The Prodigy
by Murdock129
Summary: AU. Cerebro locates an intensely powerful young mutant. How will this mutant affect the future of the X-Men and the Brotherhood? Many pairings. Rated T for graphic violence, mild sexual situations and swearing. Spyke Bashing. Better than it sounds.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The new X-Man

Disclaimer: I do not own X-Men Evolution, though I do own Gareth

Gareth groaned softly in pain as he slid the steel knife blade deep into the soft flesh of his own arm, no tears nor whimpers escaping from his lips, not anymore, he'd been beyond reacting to physical pain for a long time, now he virtually revelled in it, his entire life was pain, and when all you have is agony you learn to enjoy it.

He was dishevelled, his black trench coat dirty and damaged, pockets filled full of the few meagre possessions he had remaining, a few loose coins, a spare knife, several smoke bombs and a small soft toy penguin, one last memento of his mother… His black hair hung around his face, coarse, tangled and unkempt, his features chiselled and slightly shallow, eyes a beautiful hazel, with a deep sadness buried deep within them, the eyes of a man who'd seen far too much, lost too much. His skin was horribly pasty and sickly, only marred by a long and deep scar across his right cheek. His entire body was slumped into the corner of the filthy abandoned warehouse he now called home; a few years ago he would have laughed at the cliché, now he no longer had the sense of humour.

Unconsciously his hands rubbed together, as if he were trying to clean something from them, his eyes closed in pain, contrasting with the small smile adorning his features, as if he truly believed this pain was something he needed, something he truly deserved, still trying to rub and wipe his hands as he remembered the blood he had spilled in his rage, he'd killed many times before, mostly to survive, but a few times when his rage took control, and those where the kills which drove him into the solidarity and depression he was forced to endure…

* * *

Charles Xavier looked up at Cerebro's screen, the words "NEW MUTANT DETECTED!" were flashing in bright red, a rotating picture of a much healthier Gareth clad in his black trench coat spun beneath the pictures, notes and details about him cluttering the rest of the screen, two particular flashing boxes grabbing the bald mutant's attention, causing Xavier's eyes to widen in fear, his voice a whispered as he whispered out.

"No…", one of the two boxes showing a readout of Gareth's psyche, showing how mentally disturbed the young man was, how ready to lash out, how merciless and violent this mere teenager's mind was, the other simply blaring out three words which Xavier whispered softly in dread, "Omega level mutant…", slowly moving a hand to power down Cerebro before lifting the helmet from his head, his wheelchair turning as the doors slid open to reveal a short yet burly Canadian man with wild features and a constantly dangerous expression, and beside him a stunning tall African lady, her long white hair contrasting with her dark skin, her usual kind expression missing, replaced by a worried look as she saw Xavier's grim expression.

"So what'cha find Chuck" the burly man growled out, pressing the end of his cigar into his hand to stub it out, the smell of burning flesh causing the lady beside him to give a slightly nauseous look at him before turning back worriedly to Xavier.

"Assemble the team Logan, Ororo prepare the Blackbird, we've got an Omega Level Mutant on our hands, one who appears to have no qualms killing" the telepath told them simply before placing his hands on his temples, sending out a psychic message to the assembled X-Men All X-Men suit up and report to the hanger in five minutes he broadcasted, the numerous younger mutants, with varying amounts of enthusiasm, stopping whatever they were doing at the time and beginning to get ready for their mission. As the two adults turned to step out of Cerebro Xavier raised a hand, "Ororo I need to speak with you quickly". As the African goddess turned to her mentor he gave a small sigh, "Ororo, I detected the reason this young man is so mentally warped was because he lost his mother", Ororo's eyes widening with a small whisper of

"Oh merciful goddess…", Xavier nodding at this, his eyes falling closed in regret that he had not found this poor young man earlier, Storm quickly realizing what this meant, "And you want me to try and calm him?" she asked softly, the older man nodding again, hoping that the young mutant would be able to see Ororo as a motherly figure.

The X-Men began to assemble in the hanger bay, several of the young mutants muttering or looking around in confusion as Logan and Xavier wheeled towards them, the telepath looking over the team with a serious expression.

"Cerebro detected a new mutant signature, it's in London, England, the signature belongs to a Gareth Oliver, he's an Omega level mutant so we'll have to be cautious" seeing the worried expressions of his students, they all knew full well what an Omega Level mutant could do as they had all been present when the Phoenix had first emerged in Jean's body. "Not only that, he appears to be willing to kill, if it comes to a fight we'll be forced to neutralise him and bring him back with us, and it will take all of us to match his power"

With that he gestured towards the Blackbird, the X-Men beginning to climb the steps into the plane with expressions ranging from terror in Jean's case at the realisation that they were facing an enemy as potentially destructive as the Phoenix, to an arrogant and bored look in Evan's as the youngest member of the X-Men thought out 'How tough can this 'Gareth' be?'

* * *

Several hours later the Blackbird came to a halt on top of one of the many abandoned warehouses in this grimy area of London during the darkening evening, the numerous costumed heroes beginning to troop down the ramp, awaiting Xavier's mental commands, the old telepath speaking to the numerous mutants mentally.

Logan, you take Kurt and Kitty, search the warehouses to the north. Jean, Scott, Evan and Rogue you search to the west he ordered before privately and quickly speaking to Storm Ororo, please check the warehouses to the east, your our best hope at helping him come peacefully, before once again broadcasting to the entire group Remember if you see him try not to engage him unless there is no other choice. At that the two groups of X-Men set off to the north and west as Storm lifted herself with the winds.

Storm swept down from the rooftop, her cape billowing out behind herself as she flew down towards the nearest warehouse, swooping down to the door, one hand taking hold of the rusted metal handle and giving it a hard yank, eyes narrowing as it didn't budge, taking it with both hands and simply wrenching it off it's hinges. Quickly she stepped inside, walking towards the centre of the grimy warehouse, her hair standing on end as she heard a soft and intensely creepy voice from the shadows in the warehouse around her.

"Well, hello Clarice" the voice whispered in a perfect impression of Hannibal Lector, Storm's head whipping round to a shadowy figure emerging from the darkness, the pallor of the figure's skin, the dark matted hair, the cold darkness within the man's eyes, he was exactly how the Professor had shown him in her mind, seconds later he was simply gone from her vision, yet she could sense him circling her, his voice coming from the very shadows themselves, whispering from the shadows of the room around her "I must say, it's rare for me to have visitors, especially those as stunning as you are", Storm giving a glance around the shadows of the warhouse before speaking out

"Gareth - " she spoke out, gasping as she saw him step from the shadows in front of her, the scars that covered his hands and his neck, they were far worse than she had ever seen before in all her years, and as for the huge gash across his left cheek, it made her shiver at the thought of how much agony this young man must have endured. Stepping forwards to the slightly taller man, she carefully lifted her hand to the scar across his cheek as he stood there frozen at the concerned look in her eyes and the emotions radiating from her, the worry, the concern, the fear that were rolling off the African goddess, a caring he hadn't felt in years… His tortured eyes lowering to gaze at hers, stiffening in shock as he felt her delicate arms wrapping around him, shocked by the concern this woman was showing him.

* * *

Gareth's eyes widened as he felt the kind African lady wrenched off him in a blur, seeing her smash into a wall and taking a step towards her, a silver haired youth skidding to a stop in front of him wearing an incredibly dorky looking costume, able to hear two other figures approaching him from behind and a third crawling across the ceiling, the silver haired youth speaking out to him incredibly fast.

"What do you think your doing hugging one of the X-Geeks like that? That's so not cool your supposed to be a brotherhood member like us I'm Pietro-" was all he got out before Gareth's eyes turned a pure black, Quicksilver's shadow rearing up out of the ground, solidifying and grabbing the speedster around the throat, lifting him easily against the wall as if he weighed nothing. Gareth glared into the speedster's eyes.

"Your suffering will be legendary, even in hell!" he snarled, his voice dark and ferocious, rage consuming his features, making him appear just as daemonic as he sounded. Pietro squealed in fear at the monster before him, unable to do little but struggle as Gareth's icy cold hand took hold of his throat, the shadow dissipating at it's master's touch. Gareth growled before he span and threw Pietro easily across the warehouse, smiling savagely as he hit the wall with a satisfying crunch, blades of solid shadow forming in Gareth's hands before with a flick of the wrist he sent them flying towards Pietro, the sharp blades embedding themselves in the soft flesh of his body causing him to shriek in pain. The other two mutants standing shocked in front of him, a third hanging from the ceiling.

"There ain't no way I'm dumb enough to try and fight this guy yo" the mutant hanging from the ceiling called down to the other two mutants, though smirking slightly at the sight of Pietro having been thrown against the wall like he had, clearly showing there was bad blood between the two, Gareth smirking at the wall crawler's words, thinking 'smart kid' as his fists clenched and he focussed on his powers. Solid shadows formed in mid air at his command as he looked at the two others, one huge and morbidly overweight, the other a typical bad-boy who seemed to be wearing a fruit bowl, clenching his fist and smashing together two pieces of solid shadow on each side of Blob's head, the huge mutant falling with a crash onto his back, out cold in an instant.

Avalanche's eyes rolling back as they did when he uses his powers, a single blast of shadow energy shot from Gareth's hand impacting his chest and sending him flying back into the wall with a loud crunch, the shadow mutant turning on his heel and walking away from the broken and unconscious forms of the Brotherhood, over to the prone figure of Storm. Gently he turned and lifted her torso slightly, his teeth grinding together as he saw the silver mutant had broken her nose, one hand ripping away a piece of his already torn shirt, gently and carefully beginning to dab it on her nose and wipe away the blood from her beautiful features, eyes softening as he looked at her. She had obviously cared for him, and she'd been hurt because of it, he owed it to her to at least look after her.

Quickly he used the shadows around to mentally scan the area, able to sense the two teams of mutants, but more importantly the jet with the Professor inside, gently lifting Storm into his arms before the two of them vanished in a wisp of shadow, reappearing behind Xavier as the telepath sat at the controls of the Blackbird.

* * *

"I take it you're the reason this lady came to me" Gareth stated, Xavier giving a look of great surprise, arm lifting protectively as his wheelchair turned towards the intruder, he hadn't detected nor heard Gareth at all and that scared him. Seeing the unconscious Storm in the young man's arms he wheeled back slightly, his eyes narrowing dangerously, reaching out telepathically towards the boy, only to clutch at his head, the boy's damaged and fractured mind ripping through his mental defences, forcing his probe to draw away from the pain

"What did you do to Ororo?" he demanded as the pain in his mind quickly receded, tensing himself, as if he expected the young man to lash out and attack him, Gareth's still black eyes sending the bald man an icy glare, turning and sitting on the bed as he held Ororo gently to him, as if he were unwilling to let go of the first person to show him kindness in so long, one hand lifting and moving a piece of her white hair from her face with a small whisper of "Ororo…" before he turned his head back to Xavier with another glare that could freeze nitrogen.

"I did nothing to her, she was attacked by some silver head kid who moved like a blur and was thrown into a wall" he hissed, Xavier giving a rather abashed expression at this, able to sense that this was the truth. Looking over at the young man in embarrassment, "I'm sorry, I simply saw my friend hurt and assumed the worst" Gareth seemingly sensing the old man's sincerity, eyes closing and giving him an understanding nod of forgiveness.

X-Men, return to the Blackbird, Storm has found our mutant he called out mentally to the X-Men before turning back to Gareth, "The rest of the team will be arriving soon" he told Gareth simply, speaking out loud as he was still unable to contact the youth telepathically without risking an enormous headache

"Team?" Gareth enquired simply with a dangerous edge to his voice, he didn't like the idea that this man had a team out looking for him, but wasn't about to do anything rash, if this man had wanted to hurt him he would have tried something already.

"My name is Charles Xavier, I run a school for gifted youths, unique gifts such as your own. You see we all possess a gene called the X-Gene, it shows itself in a variety of ways, I myself am a telepath, while Ororo can control the weather, I believe there is a place for you at my school, if you wish to attend". Gareth nodded in understanding but didn't reply yet, to either agree or turn down the offer, as he heard three people approaching, three sets of boots crunching on the gravel of the rooftop. Seconds later he heard an American accented voice call out

"Miss Munroe! What did you 'like' do to her!" Gareth looking up at the slim valley girl storming up the ramp and into the Blackbird, followed by a burly and wild looking man and what appeared to be some kind of fuzzy blue creature, a cross between an elf, a cat and one of the Na'vi . The burly man hunching over into a threatening position, what appeared to be knives tearing their way out of his knuckles, his lips curling up in an animalistic snarl.

"Whoa, didn't know Avatar was a true story" he exclaimed lightly with a small smile, seeing the blue elf chuckle slightly at this, completely ignoring the short man, before looking back at the valley girl, his expression hardening and voice becoming cold and steely, "If you had bothered to ask before accusing me you'd know I did nothing to her, she was hurt by some loser who called himself Pietro or something", the valley girl giving a surprised and properly abashed look of embarrassment at this, turning her head down to look at her feet, the wild man simply continuing to glare as the knives retracted into his hands.

Slowly he looked back down at Ororo as she lay in his lap, seeing her stirring, one of her hands slowly lifting to her sore and still slightly bloody nose, groaning softly in pain as Gareth gently tightening his grip, whispering softly,

"Your with your friends Ororo, no one's gonna hurt you", her blue eyes slowly opening, looking up hazily at the pale skinned and dark haired youth holding her, into his lovely hazel eyes, his words bringing surprising comfort to her, feeling strangely calm as she lay there in his arms, it was strange that this boy, who had not ten minutes ago managed to scare her normally unshakable self, already felt special to her.

"Gareth?" she whispered softly, the young boy nodding and gently stroking her hair from her face, not realizing in the slightest how this must have looked to Kurt, Kitty, Logan and Xavier.

Spyke growled in irritation, he wished could be out skating with his friends but instead he was stuck out here in London's back streets looking for some loser who everyone seemed to be bowing down to because he was an 'Omega Level Mutant', the thought that Gareth could be a danger if not found not crossing his selfish mind for a second.

Slowly he tramped up the ramp of the Blackbird; eyes' turning up to where to strange looking boy was just brushing his Aunt's hair out of her face and gazing down at her, his anger quickly taking over.

"DON'T TOUCH MY AUNT!" he roared, a bone spike flying towards Gareth's head, only the young man's quick reactions grabbing it out of the air before it stabbed into his skull, his eyes turning pure black once again as he looked at Evan with an expression of rage, shadows beginning to swirl around Evan like wraiths, lifting his finger and pricking it on the sharp bone spike, seeing how deadly it could have been, his voice just as terrifying as when he had threatened Pietro.

"If Ororo didn't want me to touch her I would not. Don't. Speak. For. Her!" he hissed out as the wraiths grew in size, solidifying as they surrounded Evan, Logan's claws shooting back out as he looked over at Gareth in rage, "And don't try and kill me again!" Gareth growled out, his voice like glass on sandpaper.

A/N: Please review, and what do you think of this so far? And I'd like suggestions for Gareth's codename, I was thinking maybe Nightray?


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Prodigy

Disclaimer: I still do not own X-Men Evolution, though I do own Gareth (Yay)

Evan at this exact moment was incredibly lucky that it was his Aunt who Gareth had already begun to bond with, Ororo's soft hand gently placing itself on Gareth's arm, stealing his attention from Evan, his coal black eyes gazing into Storm's beautiful sapphires, the look deep in her eyes and the feel of her soft hand on his calming him, sweeping away his anger surprisingly easily, his eyes slowly unclouding, the coal blackness covering them sweeping away, returning to their usual hazel. As his eyes returned to usual the wraiths circling Evan dissipated into thin air, the whole team breathing a sign of relief, none of them wanted to tangle with an Omega level mutant, well except Spyke, but he still had a painfully inflated idea of his own potential. Slowly Gareth's eyes fell closed his voice so quiet even Ororo had to struggle to hear it.

"I'm sorry… I don't want to fight…", Ororo slowly lifting herself from his lap and sitting beside him, smiling gently at him.

"Don't be sorry, it wasn't your fault, you were trying to stand up for me" she told him gently and understandingly, his eyes slowly opening, the worried and self hating expression that had flickered over his features vanishing in a flash as he smiled gratefully at Ororo, receiving a gentle smile in return. Ororo's smile vanished as she turned to Evan with a thunderous expression "And as for you Evan" she told her nephew in a dangerous tone of voice, "You could have killed him with that spike, you will explain later and we'll have a long talk about your attitude!" Each and every X-Man shrank away at her tone, when she was like this she was surprisingly scary.

"Yes Auntie O" Evan mumbled, obviously not seeming to believe he was in the wrong. In an attempt to change the subject Xavier spoke up.

"So Gareth, do you wish to join us at the institute?" he asked in a grandfatherly tone, Gareth's head turning to look at Xavier before glancing back at Ororo, weighing up his choices. Out here in London he was alone; he lived on the streets barely scraping by, stealing food and drink, no one who cared for him in the slightest. At the institute he wouldn't need to steal, he would have a room that probably wasn't rotting, and there was the first person to truly show him kindness since his mother. Looking back at Ororo for a few seconds his lips curled up in a strange looking smile across his gaunt lips.

"Sign me up"

* * *

Gareth shuddered softly, leaning against Ororo with the occasion whimper or shiver, his entire body feeling painfully queasy, sweat was pouring from his brow and his head thumping, feeling Ororo's cool and soft hand stroking his brow, her fingers slightly indenting on his forehead,

"What's wrong Gareth?" she whispered softly, the young man already appearing and feeling very sick judging by his temperature and sweating, several of the other X-Men watching them, Kitty and Kurt's expressions of worry, Jean's of once a gain utter terror which confused Gareth to no end, ever since they had first met Jean appeared completely terrified of him, Evan giving him a surprisingly Pietro-esque smirk. Gareth only responded with a weak groan, his entire body feeling painful and weak. He knew what the problem was, but could barely from the words. Being a shadow wielder him and light didn't mix, usually sunlight was fine, but here above the clouds was making things so much worse, coupled with the fact his body was already going chemically insane due to his intense fear of the ocean, which for much of the flight they had been flying across, it all left him in a very bad state.

He felt Ororo's hand stroking his forehead carefully, her gentle fingers leaving indents in his flesh, able to hear her gasp in worry, her hands shooting away from him in obvious worry, slowly lifting his head and moaning out

"Li….ight…..hurts", his eyes flickering before he slumped down onto Ororo's lap, blacking out instantly and painfully.

* * *

Slowly Gareth felt himself returning to consciousness, able to hear the worried voices of both the Professor and Ororo.

"I told you Charles, he said 'light hurts' then he just completely collapsed on me and started melting, as soon as the Blackbird went back below the clouds he reformed on his own", a moment of silence following before he heard Xavier's voice in reply.

"Perhaps it's simple; Omega level mutants come to depend on their powers a lot. We know Gareth uses shadow powers, so being above the clouds meant the light from the sun hampered his ability to use shadows, meaning that since his mutation was effectively neutralized his molecular structure was falling apart". Slowly Gareth cracked open one eye at this, finding himself lying flat on his back in an incredibly soft medical cot with an amazingly comfortable sheet covering him up to his chin, clad in what felt like some strange spandex suit with a large X on each shoulder, instead of his trench coat. Looking around he spotted Ororo and the Professor, their backs turned to him, both in their civilian clothes, instantly trying to push himself to his feet but his body still refusing to cooperate, managing nothing more than a small twitch of both arms.

"That's all very well and good Charles, but what really matters is how do we stop it happening again?" Ororo replied, causing Xavier's head to turn and look at her in surprise, he only saw her snap at people when someone she truly cared about was hurt, but she'd only known Gareth for a very short time, the only time in all his years of experience he'd seen two people get so close so fast was Scott and Jean when their telepathic bond had formed, but while Gareth seemed to have an innate and low level telepathy he could sense that

"Ro" Gareth groaned out softly and tiredly, melting then reforming his own body, not to mention his malnourishment and the intense sickness that came from what he referred to as 'Light Poisoning' took far more out of him than most realized, managing to lift a hand weakly before it flopped back down onto the sheets of his cot, smiling weakly as he saw Ororo gently step over to him and sit on the chair beside him, her gentle hand taking his own.

"I'm here Gareth" she whispered gently, the last thing he saw before he passed out again being Ororo's beautiful blue eyes

* * *

Slowly Gareth's eyes opened slowly, sitting up slowly and lifting a hand to his forehead, the smallest remnant of his earlier headache still remaining but otherwise feeling completely fine, eyes opening to the darkness that showed it was the dead of night, all lights turned off, looking down through the blackness at the figure he felt slumped over the side of his cot, lips lifting in a genuine smile as he saw Ororo lying fast asleep against the bed, one hand gently moving to brush her beautiful white locks from her face, slowly sliding up and out of the cot, a little shaky at first as he stepped down from the bed but quickly regaining his balance as he stepped round towards the only woman on earth who he found himself beginning to care for.

Slowly he lowered his arms to lift Ororo into his arms, gently carrying her towards the door, his mind running over what he felt and thought about her. She had found him, shown him a kindness lacking in his life and for that alone she quickly became the most important person in his life. She was kind and caring, she'd defended him and comforted him in the short time they had known one another, and in a strange way he felt connected to her, an empathy and protectiveness of her which he had never once felt before. He wanted to protect her from everything and make her smile, gently carrying her down the hall, unsure how he knew where to go, but quickly sliding to one room and opening the door, finding himself in Ororo's room, carefully placing her on the bed and incredibly gently pulling the sheets over her body, smiling gently down at her before he vanished in a wisp of shadow.

He didn't know he was drawn to Storm like he was, yet she drew him to her, her kindness, caring personality, incredible beauty, the way she made his heart skip a beat when she smiled at him. Slowly he turned from where he'd teleported, looking out over the grounds from the spare room in which he now stood.

"Things have changed so fast…" he whispered, "I now care for someone, I live in a mansion and have plenty of people my age to get to know and become friends with, it's all so… overwhelming", slowly turning round towards the bed, stepping over to it and lying down slowly to sleep until morning, the little soft toy from his trench coat disappearing in a wisp of smoke, reappearing in his arms, causing a small smile to flit across his features, his voice soft and quiet as he whispered "Mama…"

* * *

Slowly Gareth's eyes slid open again, his entire body leaping up and out of bed in a split second, eyes looking around wildly as to where he was, what was he doing here? Seeing no one else nearby he took a moment to calm himself and remember back over the last 24 hours, leaning down to scoop up his soft toy penguin in one hand for support, ever since his mother had died this little penguin had been incredibly comforting to him, as if he still had a little piece of her with him at all times.

Slowly the last day returned to him, being found by Ororo, fighting Pietro and his friends, being attacked by Spyke, having a severe dose of light sickness and finally carrying Ororo to her bed before coming here, stepping over to the window and letting the morning sun wash over his gaunt features, his body engulfed with shadows for a few seconds before the sunlight dissipated the darkness around him, showing his skin tight outfit had vanished, replaced by a long open front trench coat which dropped down nearly to his ankles, black jeans above equally black trainers adorning his legs, a plain black shirt covering his chest, the final touches added by a pair of fingerless black gloves on his hands and a pair of shades sitting in the pocket of his trench coat.

He could do little towards his complexion without some food, but could return to looking healthy very quickly with only a little food, his hair remaining a tangled mess though almost instantly it was shinier and far less mangy. Slowly he popped the soft toy into his pocket before stepping back to lie on the bed, the shades floating up on what appeared to be a disk made from solid shadows, sliding over his eyes, a black fedora appearing out of the shadows above his head, falling neatly onto his head as he reclined and waited for the X-Men to find his cot empty.

He barely had to wait at all before the valley girl from yesterday, Kitty he recalled her being called on the flight, sliding straight through the wall of the room with a worried expression as her head whipped around, eyes quickly settling on him, looking over his relaxed stance and breathing a soft sigh of relief, much to Gareth's amusement, before her eyes closed, obviously sending a mental message to one of the resident telepaths.

"Like where have you been?" Kitty demanded, her hands on her hips in what she probably thought was a threatening position, Gareth's eyebrows raising as he turned his head to look at her, one hand pushing the fedora up so it was no longer covering his face.

"I've been right here all night" he replied simply, Kitty giving a slight flush probably realizing she'd asked a stupid question, seconds later the door slamming open as Ororo swooped in, grabbing Gareth and giving him a hug, her expression relieved as she gave him a huge hug, knocking off his hat and shades in the process, before slowly pulling back and holding him at arms length.

"Why did you not tell us where you where?" she scolded, her expression hard, Gareth squirming slightly at the turn before lowering his head and mumbling out

"Sorry mama…" to quiet for Kitty to hear, unsure why he had called her that when only yesterday he'd been crushing badly on her, it was as if when she scolded him it reminded him a lot of his mother, his fractured psyche moving her from crush status to mother status quickly as she engulfed him in another hug.

* * *

'One week later'

Slowly Gareth stepped into the so called 'Danger room', his stature much taller, now towering over most of the other mutants, only Storm still taller than him, his shoulders were much broader and he had a noticeable muscular figure now. His face was no longer haggard and gaunt, his hair, while still long was no longer half as course or rough, skin slightly tanned and healthy as opposed to pale and sickly

Gareth smirked, seeing the futuristic guns and blades emerging from where openings were forming in the walls, each casting their own shadow for him to control, with little effort the shadow of each new object to emerge solidifying and beginning to wreck havoc upon said object, Gareth simply standing totally still in the centre of the room as destruction raged around him, explosions ripping throughout the danger room as the weapons were torn to shreds, shadows tearing and ripping like vengeful demons, Gareth's eyes a pure obsidian black as he gazed around at the destruction.

A small 'twang' he heard behind him alerted him to a single spinning blade had been fired before the machine had been shredded by the claws of it's shadow, Gareth waiting until the very last moment, until he could sense the blade was mere inches from his head, before spinning and catching the blade in his bare hand, not even wincing slightly as the blade was buried deep into the flesh of his hand, using the momentum of his spin to hurl it back into one of the giant scissor like blades on the end of what seemed like tentacles, which were beginning to be deployed, slashing straight through the metal and leaving both halves of the scissor to fall separately to the ground. Grinning softly, Gareth's fists clenched, the shadows receding to normal, showing the full extent of the devastation he had caused, one of the walls even cracked open, his keen senses hearing Logan in the main room whisper out

"Holy shit Chuck.., this kid looks like he could give your Brother a run for his money" Gareth's eyes closing before he slowly lifted in the air, appearing halfway between flying and levitating as he floated level with the control booth, his eyes closing again he vanished into thin air, stepping out of a shadow behind a rather shocked Scott.

"Aww man, and here I thought I was zee only one able to port" Kurt griped, though with his usual grin across his blue features as Scott stumbled forward in shock at finding Gareth appearing out of no where right behind him, the shadow mutant simply giving him an irritating smirk.

"That was like, whoa" Kitty murmured looking down at the seemingly broken danger room, turning to look at Gareth as his eyes turned back to hazel and he stepped forwards, Storm moving quickly past her towards the young man she was already beginning to think of as a son, her hands moving to take his own incredibly carefully, seeming to have been the only one dwelling on his cut hand, inspecting the deep gash into his palm which at that very moment was pouring out blood, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Rogue and Kitty literally having a group wince while Evan, as per usual gave a look as if he thought he was better than Gareth, and pretty much everyone else for that matter, probably still jealous that his 'Auntie O' was paying more attention to someone else than him but not wanting to be hurt again, like when he had stolen Gareth's penguin and tried to spike it, ending up with a dislocated jaw from an enraged Gareth.

"Gareth Damien Oliver! Don't you dare do that again! You almost scared me to death!" she scolded as she pulled a roll of bandages and a large piece of cotton to soak away the blood from her pocket. She had expected something like this to happen due to Gareth's incredible pain tolerance, gently beginning to dab at his cut, the blood quickly soaking away from the gash, Gareth just relenting and allowing Storm to fuss over his hand, rolling his eyes at the others causing Kurt to give him a small laugh and Rogue a small grin, though the others seemed too freaked to notice.

"Yes mama, I promise I'll do my best never to do it again" he assured her before looking at the others again, "Uh, guys? Are you all ok?". Kitty seemed to have turned a strange, sickly shade of green, Scott was looking away with a rather grossed out expression, Kurt was chuckling but also rubbing his hands slightly and Jean was looking at him with the look of someone who'd just hit a nuke with a rock, while Jean was beginning to realize Gareth wasn't going to suddenly snap and kill them all she was still wary. As for Rogue, well she didn't seem phased in the slightest, then again she still had a few remnants of Sabertooth's personality in her head so nothing really seemed to phase her at all anymore.

"Well we've seen what you can do Shadow boy" Logan grunted out once Ororo finally released her son's hand, though continuing to linger nearby, acting like a typical overprotective yet loving mother, as if Gareth's hand was going to fall off if she moved away

Gareth thought about this for a few seconds before his lips curled up in a grin as he decided on one, looking over at Logan and hoping no one thought his choice of name was stupid

"Call me… The Prodigy!" he told Wolverine.

A/N: Please Review, I'm taking suggestions still. For the record Gareth's powers are telepathic defences (he can't be effected by telepaths and can expand that ability to others), shadow manipulation, a sort of healing factor (his body will heal incredibly fast but only when getting extra nutrients, like when eating) and finally the ability to change not his appearance, but his clothes at will). Also this is semi-set after the episode Spykecam and will hopefully go through quite a few episodes. Thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Scarlet Witch

Disclaimer: I still do not own X-Men Evolution nor any of the characters (If I did there'd be several more seasons)

Gareth slowly followed the Professor into the grim looking room of the asylum, looking around at the cold stone walls, hating the idea of a mutant being locked in here, especially for the pathetic excuse for a reason Xavier had given him on the drive over, which is why he was still neither speaking to nor looking at him.

Gareth's eyes widened as the slightly unstable looking girl charged into the room in front of him and Xavier, her coal black hair coarse and untamed, her eyes wild and scared, and the remains of a melted straightjacket hanging around her slightly shaking frame. Instantly the Professor lifted his hands to his temples, the girl falling to the side and clutching her head in her hands in obvious pain, Gareth's eyes narrowing as he saw the girl drop to her knees, his voice reverberating around the cell.

"Enough Xavier!" stepping forwards moments later as Xavier continued his mental attack on the young girl, stepping out from behind him and kneeling beside the young girl, his hands lifting to her shoulders, eyes falling closed as he forced a shield up around them both, the Professor's head snapping back like it had been punched. Slowly his head turned back down to look at Gareth as he held the now quivering girl in his arms

"Gareth what are you doing?" he thundered, a sound which would have terrified any other but Gareth held firm.

"You think your going to solve anything by attacking her! You keep her in here because she's angry! Maybe she wouldn't be so angry if she wasn't treated like an animal!" Gareth thundered in return, his own rage flaring, his voice eclipsing the Professor's, shadows licking up around the walls like demons, his arms tightening around Wanda comfortingly, able to feel the anger seeping away from her replaced by confusion and gratefulness, "Out" he growled, Xavier's own shadow solidifying and using it's arm to take hold of Xavier's wheelchair and push him out the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Slowly he turned his head to smile gently at Wanda, receiving an untrusting and slightly confused look, after having had no one to depend on for so long it was obvious she wasn't going to trust him just yet. Slowly he released her and stood, offering her a hand gently, the gothic girl slowly taking it and allowing him to help her to her feet.

"You're not hurt are you?" he asked softly, smiling as she shook her head and continued to look up at him in confusion, "Thank god, is there anything I can get you?", gently releasing her hand as Wanda once again shook her head.

Quickly he lifted a hand, a shadow appearing in the wall and two chairs sliding, apparently out of nowhere, the shadow solidifying and lifted them, placing them facing one another in front of the two teens, gently offering Wanda one of the chairs, smiling as she sat down, and sliding round to sit opposite her.

"May I ask your name?" he asked softly to her, her expression still confused and distrustful, though she whispered out

"It's Wanda… 'Maximoff'", noticing how she virtually spat out her surname.

"It's a pleasure Wanda, I'm Gareth" he replied with a disarming smile, gazing gently into her deep grey eyes, both of them silent for about a minute until eventually Wanda spoke up.

"So why are you here?" she asked in confusion, a slightly sceptical look across her face.

"The 'Professor'" Wanda noticed Gareth seemed to growl out that word "Mentioned he was trying to 'help you' get over your anger issues" Gareth replied simply "And I came to try and support you"

"Why would you do that? What makes you think you can 'help' me any more than anyone else can?" Wanda asked, her tone slightly more aggressive, clearly finding it hard to believe what the boy was saying to her or that he could actually help her.

"I can understand what you've been through better than most Wanda" Gareth replied simply, continuing to look into Wanda's grey eyes.

"I highly doubt that" Wanda scoffed, her tone incredibly sceptical as she glared slightly at Gareth, though not hexing him or anything similar, instead standing and turning her head away, he had stopped Xavier or any of the guards reaching or hurting her.

"My father beat me every day, treated me and my mother like shit every day" Gareth replied, standing as well, his shirt vanishing, though leaving him with his trenchcoat, his scar covered chest all the proof needed of his abuse. Scars of every shape and size were cut into his bare flesh. Needless to say Wanda was stunned at the sight, her grey eyes slowly looking over his chest, not just the scars capturing her attention, she may have been an inmate at an asylum for nearly half her life but she was still a teenage girl and she still had hormones, seeing a man's chest, especially one as buff as Gareth, for the first time was rather enticing to her.

"Wanda, your about to start salivating" he warned with a slightly amused tone, his shirt reappearing as Wanda blinked a couple of times before a small blush forming in her cheeks. Slowly she began to get her hormones under control, remember what they had been talking about, her mind returning to what they'd been talking about, remembering what he'd been talking about, her mood taking a darker turn.

"So what did you do?" she asked softly, looking up at him in the realization that someone understood her, that she wasn't alone. His expression darkening slightly, eyes turning away from her towards the wall for a second.

"I tore out his throat" he deadpanned, his eyes flicking to pure coal black for a few seconds before returning to hazel and looking down at Wanda, his expression serious, "And it didn't help in the slightest, it felt good to kill him, but afterwards I realized I'd become just as bad as him, I could feel his blood on my hands every day." His eyes boring into Wanda's grey ones, "I still have nightmares about what I did, about getting angry again and my powers killing another person", hanging his head and a single tear rolling down his cheek "He made my life hell, but if I could go back and change it, I'd definitely stop myself from killing him". Slowly he lifted his sleeve to wipe his eyes before looking once again at Wanda, "Think about that Wanda".

Slowly Wanda nodded, clearly thinking about what he had said, Gareth smiling softly as he lifted a hand to her cheek and placed a kiss on her forehead, his smile growing as he saw the surprised look Wanda gave him, her hand lifting to her forehead. She reminded him of himself when he had first met Ororo. Gently he lowered his hand from her cheek and took her hand.

"Come on Wanda, I'm taking you back to the institute, whether baldy likes the idea or not" he told her bluntly yet softly, gazing gently down into her slate grey's, one hand lifting and the door finally swinging open, two guards falling through the open door from where they seemed to have been attempting to break it down, Gareth smirking and stepping over their prone bodies as he threw his anti-telepathy shields around himself and Wanda, leading her gently by the hand, despite her nervousness. She wanted to get out of this madhouse as soon as possible, yet the idea of entering the outside world for the first time in years; it was daunting to say the least.

"Gareth what are you doing?" the Professor asked incredulously, looking over as Gareth pulled the door shut behind the guards, flicking the catch to lock it before turning to the old man.

"If I hadn't done that they would have both tried to tackle Wanda and probably myself at the same time. I'd rather not have to send them on a trip to the shadow realm" Gareth replied simply with the air of a man who had not a care in the world, ignoring the look Xavier was giving him.

"Fine" the Professor sighed out in exasperation, since Gareth hadn't harmed the guards when he very easily could have, "Lets just get Wanda back to her r-" he was cut off here by a slightly irate Gareth, clearly trying not to throttle the telepath.

"Oh what a great idea, come here every damn week and lecture Wanda about how to control her anger and her powers then leave her in a place where the guards treat her like a damn dangerous animal, which of course won't make her angry angrier at all, and will definitely help her control her powers better than proper training" Gareth snarled sarcastically, Xavier and Wanda getting a first hand meeting with the darker side of Gareth's personality, his eyes turning totally red and a second pair sprouting above them, an equally hellish red "Use your brain Xavier!". Both Wanda and Xavier took a step back as they both saw Gareth at his most dangerous. Charles quickly thought over what Gareth had said, honestly he couldn't argue with Gareth's points, he'd only been holding off from allowing Wanda to join the X-Men since her she was rather dangerous, but he had allowed Gareth, a known killer, to join the X-Men, giving a look over the two teens.

"Your right Gareth, Wanda do you wish to come to the join the Institute?" he replied gently to Wanda, feeling a lot safer as Gareth's eyes returned to normal, the second pair vanishing as Wanda looked up at Gareth as if looking for support and advice.

"Wanda, you'll be out of here, I'll be there to make sure no one will treat you badly, why wouldn't you want to go?", Wanda giving a small look down at her toes in slight shame. As if reading her mind Gareth gently placing a hand on her cheek and lifting her head to look up at him, "I know you want to go after your father, maybe one day you'll have a chance to bring him to justice, but if you insist on hunting him down then things will only get more horrible for you, remember what I told you before" Gareth whispered before gently kissing Wanda's forehead again, giving a wide grin as he saw her lips curl up in an appreciative smile, hearing her whisper softly

"Thank you, Gareth" before turning her head to look at a rather stunned Xavier "Yes Professor, I would like to come to the Institute" she replied, a small sparkle of joy at the thought of leaving this hellhole.

* * *

Slowly Gareth stepped out of the car as they pulled up at the front steps, holding the door open for Wanda with a smile and supportively holding out a hand and gently helping her out the car, his voice a soft whisper as he gestured up at the mansion.

"Welcome home Wanda", smiling at her as she looked up at the Mansion in awe, considering she had seen little except the walls of her cell it was understandable, gently leading her by the hand towards the front doors, slowly pushing them open to the view of Kurt, inducer-less, leaping across the room, chased by Kitty who had bright green hair and was waving a hairbrush, Gareth blinking twice before laughing softly as he saw the stunned expression on Wanda's face, "It's really something isn't it?", looking over at the Professor with his fingers on his temples, sending out a group message.

All students and instructors please assemble in the main room, we have a surprise new team member who I wish for you all to meet he sent out before smiling over at Gareth and Wanda, "Shall we proceed to the living room? I'm sure the other students shall wish to meet you Miss Maximoff", he suggested more confidently than he felt, concerned not only about Wanda's anger, but the other's reaction to Quicksilver's sister being a part of the team.

Slowly he wheeled his way into the mansion ahead of his two young charges, able to sense the pair following him into the main room, slowly sitting on the couch which he had stopped beside, Gareth still holding Wanda's hand comfortingly, the young girl having not said a word since they had arrived. Within seconds the X-Men started arriving, Kurt *Bamf*ing into a chair with a still green haired Kitty walked through the wall and through the couch before sitting down and giving Kurt a death glare, Gareth feeling Wanda squeezing his hand slightly as she looked over the two other mutants, reassuringly giving her a return squeeze, knowing that it must be disconcerting meeting other mutants her own age for probably the first time, especially Kurt.

Gently he gave her a gentle look and leaned over to kiss her forehead again; ignoring the looks he received from those entering the room as he smiled down at her, even ignoring Evan whining about it being unfair that Gareth got a hot girl, it didn't matter, what mattered right now was supporting Wanda. Wanda herself was gazing up at Gareth with a small smile, he'd been so kind and caring to her ever since they met, he'd got her out of the asylum, and not to mention he was rather handsome, trying to prevent a blush from forming as she looked up into his kind and gentle hazel eyes.

"This is Wanda Maximoff" she heard to Professor tell those around the room, most of the X-Men looking either with interest or smiling, only Evan speaking out in his usual arrogant tone.

"WHAT?" How dumb are you to think it's a good idea to bring Quicksilver's sister here? She's probably a fucking sp-" was all he got out before he was launched across the room, for the millionth time this week Gareth's fingers wrapping around the stupid mutant's throat, hauling him into the air.

"You never know when to shut up do you?" Gareth snarled, as per usual when he had an outburst the numerous people in the room finding themselves frozen, Gareth hauling Evan over to the door and hurling him out into the hall, slamming the door after him with a growl before turning and stalking back over to the couch and sitting down beside a half confused and half flattered Wanda, flattered that Gareth would literally throw his team mate out the room so as to try and protect her, yet confused as to whom this 'Quicksilver' was, surely it couldn't be… Pietro. Gently she placed a hand on Gareth's own, noticing with some definite pride and joy that he calmed down instantly, turning his head to smile softly at he, her own lips automatically curling up at that.

"Um, not to sound stupid, but whose Quicksilver?" she asked softly, head turning as the Professor cleared his throat

"Quicksilver is the alter ego of your brother, Pietro" he told her simply, Wanda's eyes narrowing in anger, the room beginning to shake slightly and the light bulb shattering as she remembered her young brother's smirking expression as she was dragged, kicking and screaming, into the asylum, barely hearing the shouts of fear from several of the X-Men, quickly feeling strong arms encircle her, hearing a soft voice in her ear.

"Calm down Wanda, he's not worth getting angry at", the room slowly beginning to stop shaking as she turned her head to look up at Gareth, slowly regaining her composure and looking around, the only damage seeming to be a small crack in one wall and the shattered light bulb.

"I'm sorry…. Just, well I just really hate Pietro and my father", hanging her head in embarrassment at how she'd acted over simply hearing her brother's name.

"Don't worry about it too much, we've all had our problems with our powers" Jean told her slightly sadly, with a reassuring smile, obviously referring to the Phoenix, "And don't worry, we haven't actually seen Pietro around in about a week now", Wanda noticing Gareth giving a slightly embarrassed look before he spotted her looking.

"When I first met him, I kind of, well broke his leg and several of his ribs" he admitted softly so only the girl in his arms could hear, her expression absolutely priceless at his admission, a mixture of shock, pride and amusement

* * *

Xavier looked out over the countryside surrounding the mansion from his bedroom window, his expression grim as he thought of his two newest recruits, they were both so powerful and had the potential to be very dangerous, he didn't want to imagine what Magnus would do if he knew they were both here, especially Wanda…

* * *

'Several Days Later'

"Well it's your choice students, survival training at Ironback or with Logan" Xavier told them simply, almost the entire team instantly and vocally opting for Ironback, only Gareth and Wanda remaining quiet, Wanda since she had no clue how bad Wolverine's training sessions could be, Gareth because so far he'd aced pretty much anything Logan had yet to throw at him, which was seriously beginning to annoy the short Canadian.

"Meh, call me insane but I'm gonna go with Wolfy's training", smirking at the glare and growl he got from the instructor at the nickname he'd coined, Kitty and Kurt both wincing at the sight. Gareth had been pushing Logan's buttons ever since he first arrived, irritating the Canadian further by being the first to successfully knock him out without using his powers.

"Ah you nuts?" Rogue asked with a small grin, knowing full well Gareth and Logan's rivalry, the other's minus Wanda seeming to be having the same thought but minus the amusement. "Well at least ah know how bad it'll be with Logan, count meh in for Logan's too". Within moments it became clear that only Wanda, Gareth and Rogue were going to go with Wolverine, the other's deciding the safer option was Ironback.

* * *

'Many Miles Away in South County Maximum Security Prison'

The paralysing liquids drained away from the massive man's form, the unstoppable mutant's eyes slowly opening and taking in the security guard standing outside his tank seconds before the uniform and skin melted away, leaving behind a beautiful yet rather dangerous looking blue skinned woman, her voice soft yet full of malice as she whispered to him words he'd been waiting to hear someone say to him for many many long years.

"Wake up Cain, it's about time you had a long overdue family reunion with your brother… Charles Xavier"

A/N: Yeah I know obvious set up for the next episode. Wanda's whole messing up other mutant's powers ability should be interesting against Juggernaut, though Gareth may end up being outmatched on this one. So as per usual need the reviews and suggestions, anything you particularly want to see? Thanks for reading everyone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Juggernaut

Disclaimer: I still do not own X-Men Evolution nor any of the characters (Wish I did though DX)

Wanda winced as she and Rogue slowly climbed up the wall of the hill towards lookout point where Logan and Gareth were already standing, looking over at her fellow Goth with a worried look.

"Is he always like this?" she groaned out, pulling herself a little higher up the cliff, her hands feeling slightly raw, "I should have listened to Gareth when he told me this was gonna be tough" she then mumbled in irritation.

"Normally he's not this bahd. It's that he's trying to beat yah boyfriend at something" Rogue grunted out, hauling herself up alongside Wanda, Wanda nearly losing her grip on the rocks at that.

"He's not my boyfriend!" she denied, and before Roque could comment she quickly added "And this isn't the safest spot to have this conversation", hands moving to find another piece of rock to pull herself further up with, unable to repressor hide the blush forming across her cheeks at Rogue's words. Within minutes both she and Rogue finally reached the edge, smiling as she felt a strong hand gently take her own, helping her over the ledge of the cliff, looking up with a small blush as Gareth helped her over, her joints aching slightly after that climb, looking over at Wolverine who seemed to be itching to keep going.

"C'mon kids, we're only a few miles from where we set up camp" he yelled out as he set off, obviously determined to get there before Gareth, the younger mutant rolling his eyes as he released Wanda, the pair beginning to jog after Logan almost instantly, Rogue a couple of feet behind the pair.

"Go on Gareth, go on ahead" Wanda told the taller mutant with a grin, seeing him itching to run as fast as he could, "You don't need to wait behind for me, I've still got Rogue to keep me company" Gareth giving her a dazzling smile and a whisper of thanks, quickly kissing her cheek gratefully before setting off at a run, long legs pounding as he sped off into the trees.

"You really ahe tha 'Scarlet' Witch when he does that you know" she heard Rogue comment, Wanda able to feel the heat radiating from her bright red cheeks, partially at what Rogue said, mostly from the kiss Gareth had placed on her cheek. "You two really do act like a couple, not to mention you're so obviously hot for him"

"Well you have to admit he is pretty dreamy" Wanda shot back with a small smile, her tone becoming tinted with desire "Not to mention a damn hot body", her thoughts becoming a little foggier as she imagined seeing even more of Gareth, unconsciously licking her lips, "And he's one hell of a gentleman…", only then noticing Rogue smirking at her. "Ok yeah, I'll admit I do kinda like him"

"And then why aren't you a couple, haven't you noticed him making eyes at you since you arrived?" Rogue asked, seeing Wanda's confused expression instantly, "So ya haven't! Wanda he is so obviously into you!"

* * *

Gareth lay in his tent, eyes closed, not moving at all as he lay there, having eventually worn himself out, he didn't even look up as he heard the entrance unzip, his eyes only sliding open as he felt a hand touch his own, looking up to see the scarlet and raven haired girl who had been in every dream he had for the past few days kneeling over him.

"Hey there" he whispered softly up at her with a gentle smile, his fingers slowly entwining themselves with hers, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company Miss Maximoff?", his eyes locking onto her wonderful slate grey's

"Well… it's about us…." Wanda admitted slowly, her cheeks flushing slightly, taking a quick breathe as she prepared herself for the words that may change her life. "Gareth, I think I… like you" she admitted softly, "Do you have feelings for me too?" Gareth smiled up at Wanda, his hand lifting to her cheek, drawing her down until their lips touched, both unsure having never kissed before, a little awkward and sloppy, but nevertheless loving, two sets of eyes falling closed in tandem as the young lovers shared their first kiss, Gareth's tongue flicking over Wanda's lips, the luscious lips opening allowing his tongue sliding between Wanda's perfect lips, gently probing her mouth, tongues slowly meeting and beginning to dance together, caressing each other's mouths and tongues lovingly, arms wrapping around one another's. After a few minutes of kissing the two young mutants slowly broke apart, both hearts racing as Gareth whispered

"Does that answer your question?" smiling up at his gorgeous lover as she smiled down at him, slowly lowering herself down to lay across his chest.

"Definitely" she whispered in content, her beautiful black and scarlet haired head resting on Gareth's chest, her body strewn across his, his strong arms carefully wrapping around her as he cradled her in his arms, pressing his lips to her hair gently, eyes gazing down at the woman in his arms, his wonderful girlfriend, the two young mutants slowly falling asleep in one another's arms.

* * *

Wanda yawned softly, her granite grey eyes fluttering slightly as she slowly began to awake, her smaller form held in her lover's strong arms, her hands moving slowly to his chest, absentmindedly tracing the criss cross of scars covering his muscled chest, gazing up at his handsome features, she knew there were people in the world who would be considered far more handsome than her Gareth, 'her Gareth' she liked the sound of that, but to her he would always be the most wonderful in every way. Slowly one hand lifted to trace the large scar on his cheek, just gazing up at her lover for a few short minutes until she felt the tent shake, hearing a typical gruff Canadian voice call in.

"Wake up Shady, we gotta get going", Gareth giving a groan and mumbling something about not being called shady before his eyes slid open, looking up at Wanda who lay across his chest, last night swimming back to him causing his lips to curl up in a smile, "Hi there beautiful" he whispered, gently lifting a hand to entwine his fingers with hers.

"Morning handsome" came the loving reply, two pairs of lips slowly touching seconds later as the young lovers kissed deeply, pouring both their hearts into it, moaning softly into the kiss, two pairs of hands stroking and caressing, two tongues meeting a twirling together in a slow dance. After a good minute of wonderful kissing Wanda drew away breathless, licking her lips softly before whispering, "We should probably get up before Wolfy tries to cut us out", Gareth nodding and pulling Wanda to him slightly before the two teens vanished from the tent.

The next thing Wanda saw was what looked like a world made from shadows, an endless expanse of shifting black, grey and purples, she was in awe as she clung to Gareth, looking over him in confusion, his voice echoing around wherever they were.

"This is the shadow realm, I travel through here whenever I teleport" he told her softly, smiling gently down at her as they shot through the shadows, reappearing in an instant in Wanda's tent, "I'll give you a little privacy" he whispered before kissing her forehead and sliding out of the tent quickly, his own clothes appearing to melt for a few seconds as he changed them into a near identical clean outfit. A few minutes later Wanda stepped out the tent too, Gareth reaching out a hand and both tent's shadows packing themselves quickly. As the four mutants packed a plane shot towards them, the Blackbird's engines roaring as it landed before them, ramp lowering, Storm's voice calling out

"The Professor is in danger, get in!"

* * *

The X-Men and Brotherhood skidded to a halt in front of the danger room, seeing Juggernaut had both Xavier and Mystique by the throat as the wheelchair bound man and blue skinned woman struggled against his grip. Without a second thought Gareth charged forwards, ahead of the others, jumping at Juggernaut and gripping hold of the man's arm, the massive man roaring out as both figures vanished, Xavier and Mystique both falling to the ground. Juggernaut looked around in total confusion at the world he found himself in, the dark purples, the greys and the deep blackness swirling around him, feeling the strange boy who jumped at him no longer holding onto his arm, spotting him instead floating a few feet in front of him

"Welcome to my world bitch!" Gareth snarled, his fingers appearing bladed and face contorted into a demonic appearance, eyes a coal black as he took control of the shadows around himself, the shadows swirling around Juggernaut as the massive armoured man tried to move, finding himself locked in place before he looked up at Gareth and chuckled darkly before roaring out,

"You think this can stop me? I am unstoppable!" He continued his futile struggle against the solid shadows as Gareth smirked at the helpless mutant, they were in the shadow realm, here he was in his element, while Juggernaut had no control here, no way of moving.

"You may be the Juggernaut, but this is my realm, and here I am a god!", his fists clenching, shadows shooting out and smashing into Juggernaut, the massive man grunting in pain and shock, shock that this mere boy had managed to actually hurt him, roaring as he swung his fists ineffectually against the shadows, feeling a blast of shadows smash into his helmet, sending it flying clean off…

The X-Men continued to look around in confusion, while the Brotherhood looked on with varying and conflicting emotions, both Lance and Fred seeming to think that Gareth was already dead, Todd on the other hand looking around in slight fear to see where Gareth had gone, he'd seen the dark haired teen hospitalise Pietro without breaking a sweat and take down the other Avalanche and Blob just as easily, he didn't think Juggernaut would have killed him yet. Wanda stood slightly separate from the others, looking at the spot where Gareth had vanished with Juggernaut, whispering softly.

"Oh god Gareth, please come back to me". A few minutes later what appeared to be a portal appeared, a spinning vortex of purple, grey and black, spitting a huge figure out who crashed to the floor, a large orange helmet tossed to the floor away from him as Gareth stepped from the vortex, stepping over the bloodied and battered Juggernaut, the vortex vanishing behind him as he smirked softly. Seconds later he felt a female form collide with his own, Wanda's arms wrapping around him, hugging him brutally.

"Oh Gareth, I was so worried about you" she whispered into his shirt, his strong arms snaking around her and cradling her reassuringly, her head pulling back and voice taking a hard edge, "Don't you ever do that to me again Gareth Damien Oliver! You know how wor-" she scolded before his lips met hers, silencing her, her eyes falling closed in contentment as her lover kissed her, feeling safe and joyful as their tongues danced slowly. After a minute of kissing her, yet still all too soon in her opinion he pulled back, whispering out a sorry before he felt a tall woman grab hold of him, Storm pulling her son to her and hugging him worriedly, Wanda joining them, wrapping her arms back around Gareth and smiling gently as she pressed her face to his shoulder.

* * *

Slowly Xavier turned to stare out the window, he was afraid, deathly afraid of what he'd seen Gareth do, alongside Thor, Hulk, Silver Surfer and Ghost Rider Juggernaut was one of the most powerful beings on the planet, yet in two and a half minutes flat Gareth had knocked him out, and not just that, left Juggernaut with a broken nose and a dislocated jaw. How much power did the young Prodigy really have? He hadn't seen what he'd done to Juggernaut since Gareth had taken him away from the danger room, but from the result he knew full well that if Gareth did the same to nearly anyone else he'd kill them, and even with all of Juggernaut's power Gareth didn't have so much as a scratch on him afterwards. It was utterly terrifying, even being the most powerful telepath in the world Xavier was unsure if he could stop Prodigy if he went out of control.

* * *

Gareth lay in the shadows, Wanda laying once again across his bare chest, his arms around her smaller form cradling her protectively as she snuffled slightly in her sleep, content to simply watch over her. She looked so innocent and helpless as she slept, the dangerous façade she kept up so often when awake gone, showing the young tortured soul which lay underneath, she must have gone through such horrors in that asylum. The poor girl had been through so much more than she could possibly deserve, she looked and vulnerable as she lay against him, he just wanted to protect her, to prevent anything ever hurting her again. Slowly he ran a hand threw her short hair, smiling as she shifted slightly, snuggling against him.

"I don't know what the future holds Wanda, but I promise we'll face it together" he promised softly. With this he allowed his own eyes to fall closed and let himself slowly drift off to sleep alongside his love, their bodies pressed together and minds dreaming of one another.

* * *

'Two Weeks later'

"Hey babe, what time do you have to be back in heaven?" Wanda heard an incredibly annoying voice call out towards her. The school term had started over a week ago, with both herself and Gareth in most of the same classes as Kurt and Toad, who Gareth was surprisingly becoming friends with. But since the beginning of term they'd both been having trouble with the local jocks. Gareth refused to be intimidated and had repeatedly got in trouble for laying them out while when it came to Wanda the term 'I'm not interested' didn't seem to get through their thick skulls, especially the Neanderthal Duncan Matthews.

Seconds later he felt his hand take her wrist, turning her head and glaring at Duncan Matthews who was being flanked by two of his tallest and dumbest jock friends, the stupid blonde jock was supposed to be dating Jean anyway.

"Fuck off Matthews" she spat out at the jock, wrenching her wrist out of his hand, turning and feeling him grab her shoulder, hand beginning to slide down towards her breasts.

"Come on sweet cheeks…" he managed to get out before Wanda spun and her leg swung out, kicking the blonde hard in the balls, causing him to crumple to the floor in a broken heap, hands clutching at his swelling testicles.

"Don't, fucking, touch me" she hissed out, looking up to see Duncan's friends lumbering towards her with what were probably meant to be threatening expressions, but simply made the pair look constipated. As they advanced on Wanda the teen mutant steeled herself, knowing she couldn't use her powers in public, though it almost instantly became apparent that this wasn't necessary, a tall figure looming over the jocks, Gareth giving a smirk as he lifted his hands and smacked their heads together, the pair falling to the ground out cold.

"Don't touch my girl" he hissed down at the crumpled jocks, making sure to step on one as he slid over to Wanda, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her deeply, their tongues dancing together, arms around one another. Slowly they broke apart, ignoring the groans of pain from the jocks, Gareth smiling and looking down into Wanda's beautiful grey eyes with a gentle smile, made all the larger by Wanda's own wonderful small smile.

"Thanks" she whispered softly, smiling again as she took his hand, allowing him to lead her away from the stupid selection of jocks, down the path of the school towards a secluded spot where he could teleport them back to the institute with little trouble, stopping at the same time as Gareth as they were about to pass Jean, seeing he wanted to say something to her.

"Jean, I know Matthews is your boyfriend, but if he tries to grope Wanda one more time neither of us will be accountable for our actions" he told the redhead bluntly, Wanda giving an equally angry look, obvious to Jean that both of them intended to beat the crap out of her boyfriend. Then again if he really had been hitting on Wanda she felt like kicking the blonde jock in the balls herself.

Gareth led Wanda away from the school, hand in hand, both still cooling off after the jocks incident, Wanda still relieved Gareth hadn't used his powers on Matthews, she knew full well he was having even more trouble than she was in not using his powers to knock the arrogant bully down a peg or two, her hand absentmindedly stroking his arm.

Gareth, while no longer seething, was barely resisting temptation to go back and send Matthews for an all expenses paid trip to the shadow realm, only looking at Wanda able to calm him down at all. Slowly leading her to their favourite spot in a clearing, his arms wrapping around her smaller form lovingly, concentrating to teleport them back onto the mansion grounds, in a small wooded area they often went to when they wished to be alone.

Slowly the two young lovers sat together in the dappled shade, unknowing what was so close, and uncaring what the future held for them so long as they were together.

* * *

A tall mutant, clad in what looked like old fashioned red armour floated above his kingdom, his Asteroid M, hands moving and controlling the metal around his fortress, putting the final touches on where he would soon lead mutantkind against homo sapiens. He would send the Brotherhood, Mystique and Sabertooth against the X-Men to decide who was worthy of joining him on Asteroid M.

"Soon Charles, soon mutants shall rise and destroy those weak fools called humanity, don't stand in my way Charles." Slowly he turned, looking down at his mutant enhancer, smiling softly with a look of pure malice. "Soon the world shall be ours".

A/N: Yes another alteration from canon, other superpowered beings do exist here, the aforementioned Hulk, Silver Surfer, Thor and Ghost Rider along with others such as Spider-Man and Captain America but unlike the main universe there aren't many of them, mainly just the big names (mostly because those are the few I know anything about). Also Shadowed Past has already happened in this continuity, while Grim Reminder will not be mentioned since it's in no way different from the original show in my fic, so straight onto the season please please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Asteroid

Disclaimer: I still do not own X-Men Evolution nor any of the characters cept Gareth obviously

Gareth started up, his breathing erratic and body shaking in fear, eyes wild as he glanced around, eyes settling on the girl sitting up beside him and gazing worriedly at him, feeling her hand touch his arm, breathing heavily in relief that it was just a dream, that Wanda was still here at his side and nothing had happened to her, he hadn't hurt her or anyone else.

"The dream again?" she asked softly, causing him to nod. He'd been having the same dream every night for a week now, each time his body was engulfed by a massive Shadow, Jean standing a short distance, her body transforming into a giant flaming bird, the Shadow and the Phoenix crashing together, destruction surrounding him, the bodies of his friends, of Wanda, and of billions of other beings from across the cosmos being left, always waking as the Shadow tore the Phoenix apart and Jean with it, leaving him totally alone in the destroyed Universe.

"It just keeps getting more and more painful, what if it's not just a dream Wanda? I never even knew the Phoenix was in Jean until I first had this dream" he whimpered out slightly, he would freely admit he was completely and utterly terrified by his dream. Wanda carefully lifted a hand to his cheek, eyes boring in him slightly, yet still comforting to the young man.

"And what if it is only a dream? What if you're just getting yourself worked up over nothing? What if this is just your powers giving you a nightmare?" she replied gently, slowly scooting back and pulling him against her, arms around his larger form, cradling him against her. He looked so scared and vulnerable to her, she could see him sniffing and feel him shaking slightly, gently kissing his cheek, "It'll be ok, I promise".

"What did I do to deserve you?" he whispered softly, still sniffling slightly in fear as he snuggled back against her, finding himself calming as he lay there in her arms, his voice a little shaky, yet still passionate as he whispered softly "Je vous aime Wanda", knowing she loved it when he told her he loved her in other languages

"Je vous aime Gareth" she whispered as she held him gently, smiling as he relaxed and eventually fell still and asleep in her arms

* * *

Gareth smiled softly as he followed Wanda though the record store, he'd agreed to take her out to the mall while Scott was in Hawaii having his relatives reunited moment, Jean was nowhere to be found and the others were off on a supposed 'road trip'. If he was honest he didn't like much music himself and figured if he was gonna listen he could get most of it free online anyway, but watching Wanda looking through the music, she seemed to regain that innocence which had been stolen from her by her father, seeing her like this just made him smile. That and he had to be honest; she had one hell of a taste in music.

"What do you think Gareth? Disturbed or koRn?" he heard Wanda asking him, looking up at her holding two CDs up, his lips curling up in a grin, he'd always figured she'd be into Goth Rock with her whole Goth image, one that she pulled off very well he had to add, but Rock and Metal seemed to be her thing, which she'd been getting him into recently.

"Didn't they do one together?" he replied with a smile, fingers running over the metal section before pulling out the Forsaken CD and handing it to his lover, seeing her give it a once over before handing it back to him.

"I think I'd prefer one or the other before I get one with both together" she explained, Gareth smiling to show he wasn't upset she'd not taken his suggestion, taking the CDs from her and looking over them, both of which were pretty damn good.

"I'd say… Disturbed, Believe, I mean Liberate is one of their best hits, and it has Rise as well which is just as good". Smiling Wanda led him over to the checkout counter, paying for her new album and allowing her lover to lead her out the mall, straight into chaos.

* * *

Gareth's eyes widened as they appeared in the virtually destroyed front room of the mansion, slowly releasing Wanda and looking around at the devastation, it looked like Juggernaut had had decided to have a slap fight with the Hulk in the middle of the mansion, slowly looking around in fear, fear for their friends, fear for Ororo, the woman he had come to think of as a mother.

"Mama? Rogue? Kurt? Kitty? Jean?" he called out into the empty mansion, hearing a small groan in reply, hurrying over to a pile of rubble and tearing a chunk of stone from a fallen statue away from the prone figure, hurling it across the room and looking back at the figure. His face twisted into a snarl, grabbing the dazed and seemingly burned woman by the back of her qípáo and hauling her to her feet, releasing her qípáo and before she could move to push him away from her grabbing her around the throat and slamming her against the wall, holding her several inches off the floor.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he snarled, his eyes obsidian black, entire face morphing into a demonic appearance as his rage grew "WHAT DID YOU DO?". He snarled as she shrank down into a mouse, dropping out of his grip and beginning to scurry across the floor, stepping forwards as a blue swirling light surrounded Mystique, Wanda's hex bolt forcing the mouse into her natural blue form. Within seconds Gareth's fingers wrapped around the shape shifter's throat again, slamming her against the wall with near bone shatter force, "This is the last time I'll ask, what, happened, here?". Mystique wheezed out, unable to talk with Gareth crushing her throat. Slowly he loosened his grip enough for her to speak.

"Alright, I don't owe him anything anyway" she choked out, falling to her knees coughing and clutching at her throat as Gareth virtually tossed her to the floor, stepping back beside Wanda as Mystique fell onto her hands and knees. "It's Magneto, he's ordered the Brotherhood to fight the X-Men, the winners join him on his mutant sanctuary" she wheezed out before Wanda stepped over to her, lifting her by the front of her dress, snarling into her face with an anger Gareth hadn't seen in her since they had first met.

"Where is he?" she hissed, Gareth's head turning as the door opened, seeing Jean stumbling into the Mansion with a dazed expression, slowly looking around at the devastation and at Wanda holding up Mystique.

"Ugh, what did I miss?" she groaned, rubbing a bruise on the side of her head.

* * *

'A couple of hours later'

" Knock knock" Mystique growled out, front flipping off the Velocity, aiming a kick at Magneto, a flying kick from Toad colliding with her side half way through her leap, sending her to the floor, Gareth lifting up and slamming Magneto back with a fist surrounded by solid shadows, punching him back across the room as the two teams began to battle it out, giving a breath of relief as his mother stepped out of the tube and at Xavier's command began blasting at the blockage in front of one door.

Magneto raised a hand, a sharp of sharpened metal flying over Gareth's shoulder, the young man gasping in fear as the spike hurled itself towards Ororo's spine, the African goddess not realizing the sharp metal was shooting towards her as she continued to throw lighting at the rocks, trying to clear her way through to the Blackbird. Gareth reached out, the shadow lifting towards the sharpened spike to grab it out of the air but his concentration was broken as Magneto slammed a steel girder into his cheek, destroying his concentration, the shadow returning to the floor.

"MOM!" he roared out, Ororo turning in surprise, spotting the metal shooting towards her, seconds later a blue figure leaping between her and the shard, a feminine scream resounding around the room as metal pierced flesh, Mystique's body colliding with Storm's, blood spraying out of her shoulder, the red beginning to soak into her qípáo, staining her blue skin as she fell into Ororo's arms, impaled on the blade. Looking up at Ororo she groaned out

"Your not hurt?", Ororo shaking her head as Raven weakened and went limp in the goddess' arms. Gareth slowly looked round at Raven and Ororo in surprise, Mystique had just saved his mothers life and risked her own in the process, turning to look round as Magneto was slammed to the wall by a wave of blue energy, Wanda with her hands out slamming him across the floor into the wall, Pietro out cold at her feet. Both Wanda and Gareth proceeded to be bowled off their feet by a tremor.

"This place is coming down" Gareth grunted as he pulled himself to his feet before running over to Wanda, "Lets get outta here" he told her, the Scarlet Witch looking at Magneto, fighting an internal struggle, wanting to see him die but knowing it would only hurt her more in the future, nodding slowly and allowing Gareth to lead her through the doorway made by a charging Blob, followed by Ororo who was carrying the bleeding Mystique.

* * *

Ororo slowly lowered Raven into the hospital bed, the bloody spike having been removed from the shape shifter's shoulder; fortunately it had missed any bones or internal organs. Unfortunately she'd lost a lot of blood and was left very weak, the burns left from the day before still evident, the blue skinned woman slowly looking up at Ororo, the African Goddess gazing back down into Mystique's yellow eyes, she looked so defenceless as she lay there, bandaged and shaking ever so slightly. Her mind slowly wandering back to the events of the previous day.

-Flashback-

Ororo stood in the hall, wondering where the kids where, she knew Gareth and Wanda were probably still out shopping or something, but where was everyone else? She couldn't hear anyone at all; all she could hear was a knocking noise coming from the door. Slowly Ororo turned towards the doors, feeling an intense bout of anger welling inside her, unable to explain the rage she felt, just wanting to punch someone, anyone. Slowly she swept down the steps, over to the oak doors with an angry expression. Slowly she opened them to see Mystique standing in the door.

"Ororo, I need to talk to the Pro-" she spoke out urgently before Ororo's fist shot out, slamming into Mystique's jaw, grabbing her by the front of her dress and hurling her into the house, the blue woman only just managing to catch herself mid fall, flipping up onto her feet, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" she yelled as she flipped a second time, this time avoiding the crackling electricity shot from Ororo's hands, leaping up onto the banister and flipping onto the upper floor, dodging blasts of lightening as she went.

Ororo gave a yell of anger as she missed, lifting herself up into the wind so she was level with Mystique, flying over to her, the shape shifter leaping over a well-thrown punch and back flipping to the ground over a lightning blast. She didn't understand what had made her so angry, it certainly wasn't Mystique, and aside from their differences in sides she quite liked the blue woman. She just felt so angry, like the entire world had messed with her and she had to take it out on someone, Mystique was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The athletic blue mutant flipping to avoid yet another lightning bolt yet moving too slow, electricity lancing from Storm's hands, hitting the red-head in the side, her form convulsing in agony as the electricity arced through her, pain erupting through Raven's body, as if every atom of her being was on fire.

As the lightning shot ended Raven crumpled to the ground, several burns obvious across her bare blue skin, Ororo feeling the intense rage slipping away, replaced by a cold dread as she looked down at the prone form before her, sprinting towards Mystique in fear, fear that she might have severely hurt or even killed the woman. But she never managed to reach the woman, a massive orb smashing straight through the glass window above them and lowering down in front of Ororo, the top opening and tentacles flying out, grabbing the weather witch before she could react and yanking her into the small dark orb, screaming in terror as it closed around her, the last thing she saw of the outside world being Raven struggling to her feet only to be decked by a tentacle and thrown into a wall.

-End Flashback-

Ororo slowly sat beside the beautiful shape shifter, her hand taking Mystique's, her beautiful dark skin contrasting against the equally beautiful blue hand, the other woman's eyes still gazing up at her in a mixture of pain, confusion, a little fear and what seemed like an emotional hurt within her eyes. Ororo could see moving was hurting her, the burns rubbing against the sheets and in places other parts off her own body, sending spasms of pain through the poor woman's body, despite the painkillers Mystique had already taken.

"Raven?" she whispered softly, Mystique giving a small nod and making a slightly choked noise, her voice sounding like she had a painfully dry throat

"Hu…rts" she croaked out slowly, "Bu….rns", Storm giving a sad and regretful look down at the poor hurting woman.

"Raven, I'm going to go get some crème for your burns ok? I won't go far" Ororo whispered, looking down at the blue lady, hand slowly slipping out of Raven's as the redhead nodded, whispering softly, just loud enough for Raven to hear "Know this Raven, I'm sorry, I don't know why I attacked you, I just felt so much rage… I couldn't control myself… I'm sorry", her voice betraying her emotions, showing her sadness and regret at not being able to control herself.

Ororo slid over to the cupboard across the private room, pulling it open and scanning the shelves quickly, grabbing a bottle of Aloe Vera before stepping over to the sink, grabbing a glass and filling it full of water. Quickly she turned and stepped over to the door, locking it quickly and stepping back to Mystique, placing the bottle beside the bed and gently sitting beside the blue shape shifter, taking Raven's head in her hand and slowly tipping the water down her parched throat, carefully making sure she was able to swallow it and wouldn't choke.

"I need you to turn onto your back so I can apply this Raven" she whispered softly as she slid the glass away from Mystique's lips, the blue woman whimpering in pain as she turned onto her back, Storm lifting the bottle and gently pouring a small amount onto her fingers and carefully beginning to rub the crème into the burns, Mystique giving a small sigh of relief as the pain began to fade in several of the burns, though there were still plenty left which were burning and aching painfully. Slowly she looked up at Mystique, flushing bright red in embarrassment.

"Raven, I need to check if you're burned elsewhere" she whispered softly, hands moving to Mystique's qípáo, the blue lady flushing slightly, though not too much due to her blood loss, slowly nodding. "How do you take this off?" Storm asked softly, her cheeks still bright red.

"I usually shift it off" Mystique croaked out weakly, eyes falling closed and concentrating on her shifting, until she felt two soft fingers touch her forehead, yellow eyes sliding open and looking up at Storm in confusion.

"Save you strength Raven" Ororo whispered, hands moving gently to take the thin material, slowly tearing it down the middle, exposing the beautiful mutant in her entirety. Slowly she began to apply the crème to the burns across Mystique's beautiful form, eyes straying slowly away from the burns towards other parts of the shape shifter.

"Your checking me out and putting your hands all over me, yet you haven't even taken me out on a date first" Mystique joked as she saw Storm's eyes wandering over her, slowly looking up at the goddess above her and feeling rather flattered that even with the burns Storm was still taking glances at her naked form as she lay there, her cheeks burning at being 'on display' like this. "So you owe me a date now Ororo".

"Are you asking me out?" Ororo asked in a rather surprised tone, looking up at the shape shifter in shock, she had to admit she was and had been attracted to Raven ever since they had first started getting to know each other. Slowly Raven nodded, lips curling up in a small smile.

"That's much of why I came to the institute yesterday, I was going to ask if you wanted to go out with me" Mystique admitted, blushing slightly scarlet, "So Ororo, will you go out with me?". The stunned African Goddess just stared down at the shifter before breathing out.

"Yes Raven, I will", the blue skinned woman smiling weakly, tiredly lifting a hand to Ororo's cheek and gently drawing her lover's lips to her own in their first kiss.

* * *

Gareth and Wanda stood together on his balcony, his strong arms around her delicate form as they looked out across the night sky together, both remembering the previous night.

"I thought I was gonna lose you when Magneto attacked you Gareth, I love you so much, I was so scared" Wanda admitted softly, Gareth smiling softly down at her.

"I love you too Wanda, and I promise I shall never leave you" Gareth promised slowly stealing her lips, kissing her deeply and lovingly, their tongues dancing together as he led her towards the bed, clothes falling away as the two young lovers fell together onto the sheets, bodies entwined, no more words needed.

A/N: That's season 1 complete. Just to explain the Shadow, in the comics the Phoenix Force inside Jean Grey is an immortal and mutable manifestation of the primal universal force of life and passion. The Shadow inside Gareth is much the mirror image, being the manifestation of death and darkness. One major difference though is between their hosts, while Jean is terrified of the Phoenix and blocks it out, Gareth has given himself to the shadow and they have merged to become one, which is why Gareth has such control over his powers. Also despite being a manifestation of death, the Shadow isn't as aggressive as Phoenix, instead content to live within Gareth most of the time. The biggest problem is the Phoenix and the Shadow hate each other, so when the Phoenix breaks free the two would end up fighting to the death. Another note is that in this reality Ororo has been helping Mystique into the institute so as to be around Kurt since Kurt wanted to get to know his mother better, the reason Mystique was at the institute when Juggernaut attacked was to try and stop the giant man from hurting her son who she knew would try and protect Xavier (Juggernaut got out due to a random glitch, no sabotage). Please Review, especially to tell me, should I do the next 3 seasons?


	6. Chapter 6

Warning: This chapter contains Graphic Violence beyond anything else in the fic so far

Season 2, Chapter 1: The New Mutants

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, a lot of these characters are my own OCs, Tigress was created by CloudyNK who is kindly letting me use a slightly altered version of her, go check out his or her fics.

Gareth and Wanda let out a cheer as the ball slammed into the net, standing beside the other four X-Men, not even being around Spyke able to curb Gareth's good mood at seeing his red-haired friend's success, so happy for her, not just for winning, but happy his friend had enjoyed herself. Slowly he slid after Kitty, one arm around his girlfriend as they headed towards the pitch, both pairs of eyes narrowing as Duncan Matthews stepped forwards. Jean, like a fool, had decided to forgive him for flirting with Wanda, Gareth barely listening to the idiot, Jean and Scott talking, only bothering to get the gist of what was being said. Slowly he turned to follow Scott away from the pitch, noting the look of anger on the X-Men leader's face, they really needed to hook him and Jean up sometime.

"Are you two coming in the car?" Scott asked, turning to look at Gareth and Wanda, his arm still wrapped around her waist, the shadow mutant shaking his head at this.

"It's ok, we'll port home" Gareth told him with a smile, "See you when you get back". With that the two young lovers slid away from the crowds, ducking under the seats around the pitch and vanishing instantly, teleporting through the shadow realm, back to the institute.

* * *

Quicksilver sat in the Brotherhood house, stewing over his father's defeat and the fact that he'd been tossed aside once again. Mystique was a traitor, she'd abandoned them to save her own skin and he was stuck here with the pathetic Brotherhood, Avalanche, Blob and Toad were all nearly worthless in his eyes, so why was he stuck here with these fools. Seconds later he leapt to his feet as the front door was blown off it's hinges, two figures standing together in the doorway a man and a woman. The man was dressed in a bright orange costume with a pair of orange goggles perched on his for, his wild hair was the exact same orange as his suit, a pair of what appeared to be hoses on his wrists attached to a bizarre cross between a backpack and a oxygen tank which was strapped to him. Beside him stood a short haired blonde girl, wearing a very figure hugging pair of blue pants, a small yellow tank top which revealed a little too much skin to be considered decent.

In her hand sat several little glowing orbs which she quickly tossed at the approaching Brotherhood members, Toad managing to backflip onto the wall to avoid the cherry bombs, Quicksilver yelping and diving for cover behind Blob who stumbled back from the mini-explosions, crashing onto the ground on top of the speedster. Avalanche jumped back, eyes rolling back into his head as he focused his powers, not being able to see the fist coming towards his face, Pyro punching the man into unconsciousness easily. Slowly they both looked up at where Toad was crouched on the wall.

"Hey I ain't wanting no trouble yo" he told them, retreating slightly further up the wall "Just tell me what you want", eyes widening as he heard a dark giggling resounding from behind the two assailants, within seconds the giggle turning into an evil cackle before becoming pure unbalanced laughter. Slowly a figure slid between the two, dressed in a purple suit with a green shirt underneath and a purple bow, with a green flower pinned to the lapel. But it wasn't the clothes which terrified Toad, it was the man's face, his skin was a chalk white with a hooked nose and long chin. His eyes were a manic with red irises, the look of them shaking Todd to his bones, the man's hair was a dark green hair the style of which reminded Todd of Wolverine's. But the very most terrifying part of his appearance wasn't any of these things, it was the terrifying grin plastered across the man's face.

"No Toady, you really don't" came the evil voice, the figure howling with laughter again, Toad giving a scared look and backing further up the wall as Avalanche and Blob began to stir.

"Yo, I don't mean to be rude or nothin', but who are you? And what do you want?" Todd asked worriedly, the man's evil grin growing

"Call me... Joker!" came the evil reply, "And what I want kiddo, is you"

* * *

Gareth and Wanda reappeared instantaneously on the lawn of the Xavier Institute, looking around at the many new additions to the institute's growing family, the Professor had been using Cerebro for months looking for young mutants who might need to be brought to the school for one reason or another. In his long search the Professor had found ten new mutants who had chosen or needed to come to the institute. First of all he saw Bobby 'Iceman' Drake and Christina 'Tempest' Simmonds who were sitting together by the fountain, the young Kryokinetic placing his fingertips into the water, cooling it before splashing Christina who yelped at the sudden coldness, eyes narrowing as she looked at the younger boy, the water from the fountian lifting into the air before falling freely onto him and drenching him.

Aurora 'Tigress' T'Challa was sitting on the steps outside the institute in the form of a black panther, staring nervously across the lawn at Rahne 'Wolfsbane' Sinclair who was chasing a frizbee in Wolf form thrown by Kiera 'Vibe' Davis, a young girl with the ability to control sound energy, the young Princess of Wakanda giving a small growl at the sight of the red furred wolf, clearly the natural feline fear of dogs affecting her.

Finally Jamie 'Multiple' Mandrox, the oldest of the new mutants who had the ability to create more of himself at will and who seemed to have stolen Gareth's trenchcoat and shades was standing beside Diana 'Duel' Prince, no doubt attempting to chat her up. Diana was the most complicated of the new mutants, her power was to change genders at will, using the name James while in male form. In male form she had incredible strength, physically on par with Blob, while in female form she had superhuman speed which dwarfed even Quicksilver's. No one besides Xavier and herself knew which form was the original but since she spent more time as Diana most assumed that was the one.

The three other new mutants, Dorian 'Leech' a young boy with an elongated skull (which made him appear a lot like an alien), green skin and the ability to turn off other mutant's powers at will, Alex 'Havok' Summers, Hawaiian surfer and brother of Cyclops and Jubilation 'Jubilee' Lee a young Chinese girl who was able to create fireworks at will weren't in sight, presumably inside the mansion somewhere. Gareth smiled at the sight of so many mutants enjoying themselves and using their powers freely, in a way he never could... Shrugging off those sad thoughts he lead Wanda across the lawn, towards the mansion

* * *

'The Next Day'

"Man this bums yo, why this clown guy even bothering to send us back to school?" Pietro complained, leaning against the wall with the other Brotherhood boys, minus Todd, and their two new faces. The Brotherhood had been 'persuaded' to do what Joker told them too, not least by the threat of the pyromaniac who right now was leaning on the wall besides Blob and the Bomb throwing manic who was right now giving Pietro a glare.

"Are you a total dumbass? You do what Mista J tells yah to do and you like it, get it?" she growled, a glowing orb beginning to form in her hand, the speedster mutant zipping behind Blob to escape the growing explosive, within seconds a hand moving to cover Boom Boom's.

"Calm down sheila, the little blighter's just inquisitive" came the broken Australian accented voice, the orange haired young man grinning at the girl who visibly relaxed, before blushing slightly under the grin and fluttering her eyelashes enticingly at Pyro, the young man grinning wider down at her from this.

"Yo, I think blondie has a thing for 'Paul Hogan' there" Quicksilver stage-whispered into Freddy's ear, the massive mutant chuckling, neither noticing the cherry bomb until it hit Blob in the nose, knocking them both off their feet and onto the ground.

"Don't call me blondie" Tabita growled, head turning back to Pyro, pushing the Australian against the wall, "And I think I'm allowed to show affection for my big Aussie boy" she purred, kissing the startled man quickly, his toes curling at the aggressive kiss.

* * *

Scott gazed down at where Jean was sitting with Duncan, his eyes focused on the beautiful redhead with a sad expression, a longing for it to be him she would sit with, his shoulder she would lay her head upon, his lips she would kiss... Not noticing the figure beside him until two pairs of fingers slid in front of his face, snapping together.

_"Aufwachen oh furchtlosen Anführers__" _**(1)** came a familiar German accented voice, Scott jumping out of his thoughts with a 'Huh!'.

"Oh, hi Kurt" he replied with a small smile as he saw who it was , "Is something up?". Slowly the teleporter pointed towards the Brotherhood.

"Zhe Brotherhood seems to have a pair of new members" he pointed out, Scott raising an eyebrow at this, able to see the two mutants.

"Wonder who they are?" he wondered out loud before his attention was caught by Lance, "Is it just me or does he seem pretty beat up?" he asked, Kurt looking over at them before nodding.

"Ja, Lance looks like he's broken his nose" he replied with a worried look, they may be enemies but if they were being hurt like this then they needed help. Unfortinately before either mutant could say anymore Principal Darkholme began a speech about how everyone was special, clearly trying not to laugh at the intense irony of her words as she delivered it

* * *

'Later'

Avalanche sat in his room beside the bed where Todd's broken form lay, glancing towards the door occasionally, he didn't want to admit it, but he was terrified, having this psychopath in the same house as him. He could still remember being at school, trying to stop himself from running over to the X-Men and begging to be protected from the Joker.

-Flashback-

Avalanche groaned as he felt himself return to consciousness, slowly his eyes opening to see the most demented pair of eyes he'd ever seen staring into his own, the pale man standing and bring his foot back, kicking Avalanche in the face, the young mutant yelping in pain as his nose broke with a sickening crunch, his hand flying to cup his face, red blood seeping out of his nose, splattering onto his hand. Beside him he could hear Blob stirring, eyes looking up to where a figure leaped at Joker.

"No one hurts my friends yo!" Todd yelled as he aimed a kick at Joker, the man simply turning to the side and allowing Todd to fly past, the man's hand sliding into his suit and pulling out a crowbar, lifting it above his hand and swinging it down across Todd's face, the young boy screaming in pain. At this Avalanche gasped, trying to push himself up and help his young friend but seeing Pyro stepping towards him, the Australian's foot decending on his head, pushing his face into the ground.

"Tell me kiddo" Joker whispersed as he lifted the crowbar again, punctuating each sentance with another strike "What hurts more? A? Or B? Forehand? Or backhand?", Todd groaning weakly in agony as he lay on the ground, more than one tooth knocked out of his mouth and blood pouring from his nose, mouth amd the cuts across his face. "A little louder lamb chop. I think you may have a collapsed lung. That always impedes the oratory." Joker growled in sadistic glee as Avalanche struggled against Pyro's chokehold, able to see Todd lifting his head, spitting up at Joker, a mixture of blood and slime splattering over the psychopath's face which contorted in rage, Lance's eyes widening, he never knew Todd had the guts he was showing right now.

"Now, that was rude. my old henchmen had some manners. I'm supposed I'm going to have to teach you a lesson so you can better follow in their footsteps." Joker growled as he lifted a handkerchief to wipe the bloody slime from his face, Avalanche still struggling, glancing over to where Blob was still out cold and where Pietro had slid out from underneath him and was simply watching Todd be beaten with the same amused smirk as Boom Boom and Pyro. Pausing Joker grinned, lifting his arm and swinging the metal down onto the broken teenage, "No, I'm just gonna keep beating you with this crowbar."

-End Flashback-

Lance looked over at the broken form of Todd on the bed, thinking softly, 'I'm gonan get you out of here Todd, I promise just as a blue sped into the room.

"Hey Lance Joker says he wants us all suited up we're going to cause hell and reveal ourselves at the soccer match" Pietro told him before speeding out, Lance nodding as he stepped over to his closet, pulling out his costume, he couldn't help Todd if he was in the same condition as the young amphibious mutant, a little concerned neither Blob or Pietro had come to check on their little friend and that Pietro had watched sadistically while Toad was hurt. A plan instantly forming in Lance's mind

* * *

'At the Game'

A huge explosion of smoke spread out from the Bleachers in front of the Commentator's box, a shadowy shape appearing in the haze as the crowd and player's turned to watch, a bleach skinned figure slowly appearing, Joker becoming more and more visible before raising his hands into the air and throwing his head back, a silver blur appearing beside him, Pietro handing him a microphone he'd stolen from somewhere as Blob lumbered up behind the psychopath, Pyro and Boom Boom sliding up at his side, Avalanche hanging back behind the others.

"HELLO BAYVILLE!" Joker roared into the mike before waving to the crowd, "JOKER'S BACK IN TOWN! WHAAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAH!", Xavier's eyes widening as he looked up at the evil man, whispering softly

"Can't be...", Joker obviously hearing and screeching with laughter again.

"Oh no, your old eyes do not decieve you Charlie, after all, who'd know me better than you?" Joker mocked before jumping down from the commentator's box onto the bleachers. "Hello folks, now I've been thinking, this city deserves a better class of criminal. And we're gonna give it to them! Pyro, show them what a mutant can really do!" he roared into the megaphone, the Australian grinning

"With pleasure" he growled, shooting fire into the air from the hoses on his wrists, the flames growing and forming a massive Hydra, Joker stepping forwards.

"You see folks, we're mutants, just like those losers at the Xaver institute, what is a mutant? How about we show you" he growled, the hydra swinging it's head down, the flmaes crazhing into the bleachers, setting several alight. With that the other Brotherhood members charged the X-Men, Quicksilver zipping towards Kitty, missing as she phased through him, the speedster slamming into the Bleachers and knocking himself out. Avalanche ran at the Professor with a fist raised, reaching out mentally to the telepath, screaming in his mind, 'PROF X!', after several shouts hearing inside his mind 'Lance? Are you not with them?'

'No I'm not, they've got Toad, Joker nearly killed him, he's at the Brotherhood house, please save him, we need to escape them' he shouted mentally as he ran, keeping up his facade as he lifted Xavier out of his chair with one hand whispering mentally Knock me out and take me back with you, I beg you, a mental pulse hitting him and causing Lance to crumple out cold.

"Gareth! Get to the Brotherhood house, find Toad and get him to the institute!" Xavier bellowed, the Shadow mutant nodding and vanishing on the spot, reappearing instantly in the Brotherhood house. Back at the pitch Spyke was on the ground, severely burnt by Pyro already, and Kurt was barely dodging the bombs Boom Boom was throwing and Mystique wasn't having much luck hurting Blob, even if he was too slow to catch her either. Joker seeing two of his team down already deciding to cut his losses.

"I've seen enough, come on kiddos, lets bail" he yelled, dropping a huge smoke bomb, Blob carrying Pietro as he, Boom Boom and Pyro ran off after Joker, away from the carnage.

* * *

Gareth yelped in shock as he slid the door open, seeing Toad so bloodied and broken on the bed, lifting the young boy into his arms and porting back to the institute infirmary.

* * *

Xavier looked slowly around at the carnage, his hands moving to his temples as he began trying to wipe the minds of all the nearby humans, Storm already flying above them, rain dousing the flames left by Pyro before sliding down from the sky in time to help her lover catch the Professor as he passed out from mental exhaustion. The humans slowly beginning to look around at the destruction with confused expressions

A/N: Bet none of you expected the Clown Prince of Crime to drop in! For the record this is the Mark Hamill Joker from Batman the Animated Series, and don't worry, I don't plan for any other DC characters to drop in, and limited other Marvel characters. Also Duel is partially inspired by Kaze-Kami-Ha's character Gemini (same powers) though isn't meant to be a copy. Sorry about Sunspot, Magma, Cannonball and Berserker not being included, with the new characters I wanted to add they'd simply be too many new mutants, though I still plan for one of them to show up again later, I'll let you guess which and when. Also many characters are supposed to be very different from canon X-Men Evolution, Boom Boom, Leech and Multiple are prime examples of this. Please Review 83

(1) Wake up oh fearless leader.


	7. Chapter 7

Season 2, Chapter 2: The Phoenix

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, a lot of these characters are my own OCs, Tigress was created by CloudyNK who is kindly letting me use a slightly altered version of her, go check out her fics.

Gareth's eyes widened as Jean yelled out in shock and terror, looking down at where she was stumbling backwards on the stage, seeing her collide with the table and tumbling over it, all the X-Men tensing as they'd seen something similar to this happen to Jean before, this was similar to what it was like for Jean whenever Jean struggled to hold back the Phoenix, but it seemed worse this time, Gareth's hands shooting to his forehead accompanied by a whimper of pain as he felt an ancient force tearing at his own mental defenses, a bestial voice bellowing for him to destroy the Phoenix and it's vessel, able to feel Wanda's hand on his arm, trying to calm him as he groaned in pain, gripping his own scalp in pain as his body shook slightly, fighting to hold the Shadow back from taking control, which he knew would in turn force the Phoenix into control of Jean's body. The moment those two beings where released they would fight, and very quickly they'd become too powerful for anyone to stop, they'd even stop needing their hosts. In fear of that happening, and pain within his mind and head he managed to groan out softly to Wanda.

"Get me out of here... the... shadow... is... taking... control", his voice strained, smiling softly as he felt her arms wrapping around him quickly and lifting him to his feet, supporting him as they stumbled out the rear exit of the hall. He was incredibly glad they'd chosen to sit near the back of the hall, no teachers would try and stop them and they probably wouldn't be missed, at least at first. Gareth was able to hear Jean's gasps calming and hear her covering for herself, his head still pounding but the Shadow's mental assault, even if the assault was quickly subsiding the pain remained, slumping weakly against Wanda, exhausted from restraining the Shadow for even this short time. "I... need... to... rest..." he half grunted, half murmured, his hand taking Wanda's before he and Wanda vanished on the spot, heading back to the institute, barely traveling through the shadow realm for a single second before the pair of them reappeared in the front room of the institute, Gareth giving another long groan before he passed out on the spot and crumpled into Wanda's arms. In a mere moment Duel was at their side, having been alerted by the loud groan, and Avalanche was running towards them, having seen the pair arrive. Diana was unable to go to a regular school since the Professor's image inducers wouldn't cover her gender switching abilities, which tended to happen on their own when she was angered while the Professor had decided with the Brotherhood and Joker on the loose it wasn't safe for Lance to be out in public, which included schooling.

"What happened to Mr Tall, Dark and Scary?" Diana asked with a genuinely concerned tone as she looked over the older mutant man, receiving a death glare from Wanda at what the girl had referred to her boyfriend as, even if it was his oft used nickname among the new mutant, the Gothic girl snapping out orders to the others as if she were a born leader.

"Diana, go get Logan and the Professor to come down to the infirmary, tell them Gareth had some kind of psychic attack before he passed out, Lance, you help me carry him, get his other arm" she ordered, Diana speeding off in a blur as Lance slid under one of Gareth's arms, lifting the tall British mutant as Wanda held up the other

* * *

Gareth gave a small grunt as he came around, his head felt like Juggernaut had been playing soccer with it before giving a small growl, able to feel Xavier testing his mental defenses but unable to break free, after fighting off the Shadow each time the cosmic entity became mad meant Xavier's mental probes seemed incredibly weak in comparison.

"Get, out, of, my, head, Xavier" he snarled, resisting the natural urge to toss the old man across the room, he couldn't stand when he had people messing with his head. Quickly he focused, mentally speaking to the Shadow inside his mind. _"What was all that about?"_ he asked, the Shadow giving a huff before replying, **"The orange haired girl, she has Phoenix trying to break out, me and Phoenix have no real choice but to try and kill one another, we're opposites and naturally hate one another"** the bestial voice explained in an oddly calm tone, Gareth's eyes widening before he growled out loud "Shit!"

"Gareth please do not sw-" Xavier began to admonish before being cut off by the irritated youth

"Xavier, with all due respect, shut up" Gareth growled, ignoring the upset glare he received from the bald man and sitting up, pulling himself out of the infirmary cot which he seemed to spend an unnatural amount of time lying in these days, "You've got bigger problems on your hands that me swearing, I've spoken with the Shadow, if you don't lend Jean a mental block or two your gonna have him and Phoenix trying to kill each other pretty damn soon, and I'm pretty sure you don't want that", Xavier's expression turning determined, fingers moving to his temples, sending a psychic message towards the school

'Raven, get Jean back to the mansion now!' Xavier ordered before looking at Gareth and Wolverine, "Wanda, Lance, Diana, get Gareth into the danger room and don't let him out until I say so, eyes closing as he sent a message out, he hated to endanger the New Mutants already but they would need every body they had to restrain Gareth from attacking Jean, and to restrain Jean while he reasserted the mental blocks in her mind, 'Actually Raven, we're gonna need all the students back at the mansion now' he told her 'There's no time to explain, just do it'

* * *

Jean could feel a terrible itch in the back of her very skull, an itch so bad she wanted to rip open her own skull to get at it, it was driving her absolutely insane, itching away all day, her eyes running around the room with a slightly nervous edge, the itch was unnerving her for some bizarre reason, not to mention she could sense something wrong but was still pretending she didn't have that sense of dread, giving a confused look as she heard Principal Darkholme at the door (she was still having problems getting used to her Principal being Mystique, and Mystique being benevolent), asking for her, Scott and Multiple to come with her, the itch growing in intensity as they were lead out to the X Van, Kurt, Kitty, Spyke, Bobby, Vibe and Tempest already waiting inside. Within seconds the four older mutants had piled inside, the many mutants squashed into place, not receiving any answers as the X-Men and New Mutants were driven to the Institute, Mystique driving like a maniac, in only a few short minutes they were screeching to a halt at the steps behind a second van which carried the remaining students who piled out, followed by Wolverine, Xavier wheeling out onto the steps towards them.

"Jean, Scott, Rogue, Raven, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, Alex, Jubilation and Rahne, come with me, I'm going to need your help, Logan, Dorian, Bobby, Aurora, Christina, James and Kiera, join Wanda, Lance and Diana in containing Gareth in the danger room, use any means necessary without harming him too badly" he ordered quickly. Jean's itch was driving her crazy as she followed the Professor towards a metallic room, barely able to focus as she was asked to lay down, slowly lying on the metal and allowing Xavier to start entering her mind, just caring about getting rid of this horrendous itch, her consciousness falling away into a sweet dark abyss within her mind.

At the exact same moment Jean's body was engulfed by flames, the fire changing shape to resemble a gigantic flaming bird, the X-Men either jumping back or being hurled away from her by the psychic throwback.

A nanosecond later Gareth's body was engulfed in shadow, the shadows morphing into an enormous Golem, Gareth floating within it's chest, his eyes a pure midnight black, burning with hatred unlike anything the other mutants had ever seen, his movements mirroring those of the Golem.

Stepping forwards Gareth lifted his right hand, the Golem's hand raising with it, before he swung it down and effortlessly threw Logan aside, sending the Wolverine flying into the wall of the danger room, cratering it severely, the X-Men and new mutants springing into action, Leech raising his hands and trying to tear away Gareth's powers, but being hit with a bolt of shadow which Shadow launched from the hand of the Golem, throwing the extraterrestrial looking mutant back and into the wall right beside where Wolverine had been indented, knocking him out in a second. But before the Golem could strike again a massive flaming bird tore through the wall, the Phoenix screeching in rage before flying straight towards it's hated foe, the Shadow, who lifted it's hands and grabbed the flaming wings of the Phoenix, planting his feet and coming to a stop as Phoenix screeched in pure rage, neither of the mighty astral beings giving an inch of ground nor seeming to be able to hurt one another as of yet.

Neither being noticed the two figures flying at them, Tempest taking control of the water within Gareth's body and hurling him into a wall with a shout as Tigress leaped down from where she had climbed on the control box, slamming through the flames with a roar, crashing into Jean and slamming the girl to the ground, the Wakandan princess roaring in pain as the flames around Jean burnt into her dark skin but still continuing to wrestle Jean to the ground, risking life and limb to protect her fellow mutants. With a grunt she brought her head back before she jerked it forwards and smashed her forehead to the other woman's in a perfectly executed headbutt, Jean's head jerking back and hitting the metal floor of the danger room with an audible clang. With Jean momentarily dazed and distracted Xavier (who had just wheeled in after Phoenix with the rest of the X-Men and New Mutants) lifted his fingers to his temples, slamming the mental barriers into place within Jean's mind in an instant, causing Jean to pass out as he too slumped into his wheelchair with a groan, the flames around her body dissipating, allowing Aurora to roll off the other woman, her mocha colored skin and whitish hair burned severely all over her battered form.

* * *

The X-Men looked up at where Gareth stood as one, the young man obvious fighting to take control back from Shadow, the mighty Golem having thrown Tempest to the floor easily, the unconscious blue haired girl already being cradled by Bobby, who had one hand raised, shooting ice shards from his finger tips at the monstrosity as it approached him. Scott ran to Jean as quickly as he possibly could and lifted her, running away with her prone body in his arms, trying to get her away from the massive Golem, surprisingly Rahne being the first to run to Aurora's side, lifting the feline mutant quickly, Mystique beside the girl in an instant, helping Rahne to lift her as Logan checked Jean over tor any noticeable injuries.

Gareth's eyes burned black, letting out an unearthly scream as the Shadow threw his fist towards the X-Men, aimed straight at Wanda, in a moment of pure power he burst from the Shadow's body, flying in front of the punch and crossing his arms, shielding the woman he loved with his own body in another inhuman screech of agony, the shadows tearing into his flesh. The young mutant held back the Shadow's fist for a few seconds before in a flash Gareth had slumped to the ground, the Shadow vanishing into thin air, hiding once more inside his host, able to survive in Gareth even if the young shadowkinetic were to perish, Gareth struggling to slowly lift his head, with his last ounce of strength forcing himself to look up at Wanda.

"Love... you" he groaned out, the young girl gasping in fear, kneeling down beside him and gently turning him over, screaming in fear. Chunks of flesh were missing from Gareth's arms, even more of his flesh torn from his chest, so much that his ribcage was barely covered by more than a few scraps of bloodied and mangled flesh, Wanda clutching at her lover's hand to her chest, cold tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

"Don't you dare die on me Gareth" she whispered, her hand flitting to his neck, howling in agony as she felt no pulse, the other mutants giving mixed reactions, most gasping or giving another expression of shock, Spyke being slapped by Kitty and punched into unconsciousness by Multiple, both mutants being pulled from Spyke's crumpled form by a tearful Kurt and Mystique, Kitty burying her face in Kurt's fur as Multiple simply seemed to lose all energy as he was pulled against Mystique.

* * *

It was Diana who spoke up, her speed wasn't just physical, she could think at incredible speeds. A plan formulated in her mind, an idea of what could possibly save her teammate, remembering the powers and abilities of all her teammates, if only there was a way of getting Wolverine's healing ability into Gareth. Rogue could drain the power out of Wolverine but had no way of putting it into Gareth, except Wanda could turn the powers of the other mutant's on their heads, perhaps she could make it so Rogue gave power instead of took it... In a second she had grabbed both Rogue and Wolverine, yanking the glove from each of Rogue's hands and tapping Wolverine's hand with Rogue's before kneeling beside Wanda in a second, her voice serious.

"Wanda, you can temporarily reverse mutant's powers right? Reverse Rogue's, it's the only chance Gareth has" she told the other girl, hands moving to press one of Rogue's hand to Gareth's, Wanda's eyes widening as she realized Diana's plan, a blue haze flying from her fingertips and surrounding Rogue's body, both Rogue and Gareth's corpse groaning in pain as the healing factor she had just taken from Wolverine was forced out of her fingertips by Scarlet Witch's power, forcing itself into Gareth's body before they snapped apart. Instantly the missing flesh across Gareth's body began to grow again over his chest and on his arms, within a minute the flesh completely regrown, the only things that would tell you he'd been hurt were the rips on his clothes and his unconscious state, Rogue and Wanda both collapsing on the spot

* * *

'Several Hours Later'

Gareth groaned softly, his eyes fluttering open, view filled with the face of an insanely beautiful girl, his lips curling up as he whispered out

"Wanda...", the goth goddess leaning down to kiss him deeply, her eyes sparkling with tears as she drew back, swatting him lightly over the head.

"You scared me you big dope! Don't you ever do that again!" she half yelled at him before wrapping her arms around him, holding him to her gently, "I love you too much to lose you crazy thing"

* * *

Rogue practically danced down the hallway, her usual top replaced with a green tank top, eyes spotting Diana before jumping the startled girl, giving the younger woman a bone crushing embrace, the first thing the young girl noticed (after the surprisingly strong arms around herself) was she didn't seem to be passing out, Rogue practically sobbing out

"Thank yah, thank yah so much Dianah!", the goth girl pulling the shocked Diana up and stealing her lips, Multiple, who had been trying to chat up Diana again watching in complete shock, his shock gorwing as Diana practically melted into the kiss. Diana was beyond surprised at this,not only wasn't Rogue draining her, she was kissing her and thanking her, the goth breaking the kiss and practically dancing off, Diana's eyebrows raising as she looked after Rogue, wondering how had she never noticed her perfectly curvaceous the pale girl really was before? Her hand lifting to brush over her lips.

A/N: In official canon Ororo was visting her cousin upstate which is why she isn't there to help Gareth calm down, just an explaination. Another point is since both Shadow and Phoenix were only just released neither was anywhere near their full potential, otherwise it'd have been nearly impossible to stop them. Also just to make a point, Tigress' mutation is slightly different to the official version, in this reality she doesn't morph into big cats, instead she has the same attributes (Cheetah speed, tiger strength, the ability to roar, brilliant reflexes, superhuman senses, incredible stamina and so on), also her hair isn't the same white as Storms, rather it's slightly greyer, like the fur of a snow leopard. With the Rogue thing, during the power transfer both she and Gareth permenantly got a boost, Gareth has a limited healing factor (not wolverine level though) and Rogue got a lot of Gareth's control. Please review.


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